“Twisted? That’s a nice word.” Neci winked at her. “Let’s not do this now. We have an appointment.”
The din of the robotic onslaught grew. The metal buildings behind them crashed one after another.
“They really want our guest,” Kerwen said.
“On the floats. They’re nearing the center of the city,” Neci ordered.
The Sisters and Syn were joined by several more burlys. They spread out onto the hover bikes. Syn sat between Taji and the thin burly that held her in place. Pigeon, Kerwen, and Neci on the other, with Admiral behind her. And three other burlys on the third. They moved out. The bikes were quiet, but she appreciated their soft hum. Their recognizable hum. Syn nodded at Pigeon, “Good job on keeping these in great shape.”
Taji looked back, “What do you mean?”
“These are in great shape. They take a lot of work.”
Taji chewed her lip and bobbed her neck. The muscled girl rolled her shoulders and said. “The one who fixed these isn’t around.”
Pigeon whispered, “Tulce.”
Syn repeated the name. Taji jabbed her with an elbow just as the hover sped forward. Syn started to totter off the bike as the burly snagged her shoulders. She moaned as she struggled to breathe. So Pigeon wasn’t the only one connected to Tulce. Taji felt that pain too. Don’t say anything about Tulce to anyone. Don’t make Taji mad.
The bikes zipped through the back wall. Nothing but darkened sand dunes greeted them. If it was day, it was hard to tell. The gray of the sky formed a seamless gradient with the drab sands.
The air was still, and she could see the rolling of the hills in front of them—a silent world that didn’t want to be disturbed.
They were nearly two kilometers or more beyond Zondon when Neci’s bike, in lead, slowed and then stopped. Syn guessed at the distance from the location of the Jacob pylons near them. The scenery was all so monotonous that she was unable to discern their location with any accuracy.
Neci turned her bike around and pointed it at the city.
Taji copied the action. As they slowed, Taji chuckled, “Watch this.”
Seconds passed, and they saw nothing. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light. Syn shielded her eyes, but it was too late. She was seeing spots and couldn’t orient herself. The thunder of a massive explosion followed and a moment—not even a second later—a shockwave slammed against her. It felt like a wall, and it slammed into her chest like a fist and then lifted her up and threw her against the sand. A second wave hit moments after. She blinked and saw, frozen in the fraction of a moment, the others spinning wildly through the air. Syn hit the ground again and tumbled. There was a loud ringing sound—a high-pitch whine that blocked out everything else. She shut her eyes from the stinging of the sand. Burning. Everything felt like it was on fire. Her eyes. Her ears. Her skin. She laid in the sand, and a wash of heat rolled over her back. Her head must be in the sand, she thought, but wasn’t sure how she knew that. The heat began to sting. It hurt so bad. She picked up her head and wailed. Pain. Pain. Pain. She couldn’t think of anything but the pain.
Then darkness.
When next she remembered, there were other voices. Her voice. “Lift her up. Make sure she’s breathing.” And “That was stupid.” “Torch the whole place.” Then a quieter echo of her voice, “Foolish.” Somewhere, in Syn’s own mind, that word had formed. All of this was foolish. Foolish that I hadn’t ran. Foolish I am still living. Foolish that I almost died. Foolish that I had even come here.
The voices continued, and she began to separate them.
“It hurts.”
“I know it does.” The cadence was slower. Neci. Control. Elegance. Even in the tragedy. There was something about this copy of her that she found enticing. Neci was always controlled. She could see why the others obeyed her. She had a mastery over herself that Syn could only dream of. Somewhere, far below, she had dreamed of being the person that Neci was. Never panicked. Never… Anything but Neci.
“They won’t be following us. ‘Sides, you knew what was coming.” Taji’s voice was the closest. She was above Syn. The girl rolled Syn over onto her back. Syn coughed, and Taji bellowed, “Blast. She’s still alive.”
Kerwen shouted from far away. “You lost one of the golems. It didn’t duck.”
The others shouted back and forth amongst themselves. They righted the hover bikes. They assessed each other’s wounds. Except for the loss of the burly and Syn’s daze, the collection managed without much injury.
Syn, with the help of Kerwen, stood up. She took the other girl’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She maintained the grip just a moment longer. The touch of another person was still so new to Syn. It was beginning to feel like a compulsion. Just a bit of a longer touch. Just to feel their skin. Even though their skin was the same as her own. It was warmed by another heart, by different blood.
Kerwen shook her hand free and stepped away. Syn turned and looked back at Zondon Almighty. Or, where Zondon Almighty had been. Now there was nothing by a thick rising cloud of black smoke. Far above, the pillar ended in a conical shape. The surface of the clouds was illuminated a bright orange from the fires in the ruins of the city. Syn stammered, “What… What was that?”
Neci was already back on her hover. “Impressive, eh?”
Syn took a few more steps in the direction of the burning city. “You did that? On purpose?”
Taji laughed. “They won’t follow us now.”
“But that was your home!”
Neci shook her head and motioned to both Pigeon, who stood quiet, and Taji to take their seats. “The machines had to die—they weren’t going to stop pursuing you. They would follow us to Eden. They had to be ended.”
Syn felt paralyzed. She stumbled forward and shouted, “Arquella! Huck!” The throng of bots was dead. All of the Ecology. Were there a hundred standing outside the city? Far more than that. Thousands? Several thousands? Syn’s vision blurred, and she cried. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and glared at Neci. Arquella believed she herself had been human once. She’d had dreams. She’d had her own thoughts and emotions. Huck and Bear had been loyal and caring. And now they were a pool of molten metal. Murder.
Taji was still boasting, jabbing a finger at Neci. “Told you that it would work. You doubted me.”
Pigeon was back on the bike with Neci. “We said you should leave it where you found it.”
Taji’s face was still enraptured. “I was sure it would work.”
“It worked,” Neci said. “I needed it to work. We needed it.”
Syn gasped, “We needed it?”
Neci narrowed her eyes. “Are you a part of ‘we’?”
Syn ignored the question and took a step in her direction. “Why do you make these decisions for the rest of them?”
“If you think you’re ready to be a part of us again, just let me know. You just have to do your part. Until then, you have no voice in what we do.”
“You killed them!” Syn was stepping closer to Neci, her arm pointed behind her, her finger jabbing at Zondon Almighty. “You killed each of those bots. They were living! You killed them!”
Neci sat on the bike, smiling.
Syn cleared the distance and Taji stood up to intercept. Neci didn’t move.
Syn shouted, “Stop smiling. You just killed a thousand people! You just killed all of them. Stop calling them machines! They were alive! They danced! They painted! They are more alive than you. They created wonderful things, and everything you create is ugly and broken and twisted!”