Please, get to the other access point. Please. Get in.
Kerwen.
Flying across the top of the Disc between Jacob towers with a world below them, the loss of a Sister consumed her decaying thoughts.
Just days. That was all they had known each other. She stole a look back, but they were far enough away that all she saw was the dark blur on the edge of what limited vision she had—Kerwen falling slowly, gracefully to death. She pounded against Blip, but he did not relent. She wanted to save the girl, but she knew it was too late.
Ahead, the next Jacob tower grew closer. At this height, the towers were closer together rather than the kilometer spacing at the base. They were only a few feet from an Orisha mask. This one was teardrop shaped, and there was a slight upturn in the corners of its mouth. Was it happy? From this distance, the masks were monumental in size. She felt as if she was floating by the faces of the gods. They stood there, unmoving, and a shiver ran down her back. They hadn’t helped stop the calamity on this Disc and seemed unconcerned with her now. Just like the Builders themselves.
Would they get to it only to discover the Jacob lift was at the bottom? That the doors were closed? Would they be forced to descend like Kerwen? Blip could control their descent for a while, but at some point, gravity would overwhelm them, and they’d be pulled down with more force than he could lift. They’d die the same way Kerwen would. Stains on the surface of the dark Disc.
The door to the Jacob slid open. Of course it would. Blip was controlling it.
They flew through the open doors, and Blip halted in the middle of the Jacob. Syn continued on and slammed against the far side, knocking what little air she had in her out. The gravity was still slight, and she bounced from the wall across the Jacob just as the doors slid shut and the small container pressurized. She smacked the doors hard. As she floated aimless, dazed, she gasped for air. Air. There was air in the Jacob. She could breathe.
Blip swung around and floated down to the control panel and began to interact. The Jacob stayed motionless for a moment and then, at Blip’s command, began to ascend again toward the needle.
The gravity lessened. Syn fumbled for Blip and gave a hoarse, “Stop. No.”
“Are you okay?” he chirped.
Syn took another deep breath. “Go back.”
“We are going back. To our Disc. It’s over now,” Blip said as he sidled up next to her, giving her something to lean on and orient against.
“No! Back down!” Her voice was still faint sounds interspersed with wheezes.
“Syn, it’s okay. We are going home. This is not our Disc.”
“No! We have to go back for Arquella. For Huck. And Bear. For the Barlgharel.” She was finding her voice. She blinked and stared at him, her eyes begging.
“Who?”
“The bots! They helped me. We have to go back for them.”
Blip’s voice grew stern. “We aren’t going back there. I should never have let you come over here. We’re going home.”
“No! She’s going to kill them all.”
“The bots? They are dead already. She blew them up.”
“They’re not that stupid. They can’t all be dead. I didn’t see Arquella or Huck. Not even Bear—you can’t miss him!”
“It’s too late! We don’t know when she’s going to blow it up.”
“We have to try!”
“No, we don’t. We only have a chance now to get back home. It’ll all be okay when we get through the gate.”
“That’s what she wants us to do. She wants us to go to the gate. She’s going wait for us to try and go through! She’s too smart for that. She won’t expect us to go back down,” Syn yelled.
“Cause it’s insane!”
“We have to try!”
“I already told you no.”
“I said no!”
“No!”
Syn shouted at him, “No!”
“Stop it! You’re being childish.”
“They’re going to—”
“Don’t say it! No more!”
“Die!” she finished.
“They’re just dumb bots.”
“No they’re not! They think. They’re alive. They’re like you.”
“I’m not like them.”
“Just like them!”
“I’m a companion and—” Their words began to tumble over each other’s as they refused to wait for the other to stop.
“You selfish, little—”
“And it’s my job to make sure you’re—”
“Little, stupid, lying, lying, lying, lying—”
“You’re safe! I won’t go back—”
“Lying liar of a—”
“Back there!”
“A bot!”
Then there was silence as the two faced each other, inches away, fuming. Syn was sweating, and her hands were balled into fists.
Without any motion, Blip signaled the Jacob lift, and it slowed to a stop.
Syn still stared, beads of sweat floating in the air around her. Through tight lips, she breathed, “I missed you.” And then she was holding him, wrapping him tightly in her arms, feeling his cold shell against her face. “I missed you! I missed you! Are you okay?” She was crying, tears floating off her cheeks to orbit them, splatting against Blip’s shell. For a long moment, she held him and then released with a final, choked, “I missed you.”
Blip floated back a few inches and chirped, “Are you okay?”
Syn started to answer and then paused. After a moment, her eyes darted to the ground. “No.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.” Then a moment later, “Yes.”
Blip understood. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you.”
“Yes.” Her voice still resonated with anger.
“I didn’t know about all of this. I knew—”
“You knew they were here. You knew I had sisters.”
“They’re not sisters. They’re clones.”
“I’m a clone?” Her words fell out softly. More sadness than rage.
“Yes. Eves.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” Blip was down now at the control panel, interfacing.
“Why did they make us? Why copy us? Is it true?” Syn had turned and floated to the window to look out, hoping for a glimpse of Kerwen. If she was out there, she was already lost in the haze and billowing smoke from the remains of Zondon Almighty.
“What did Neci tell you?”
“We were to be the first ones on the planet. Just like Captain Pote said. But I thought I was the only one. That I was—”
“Special?”
Syn nodded and crossed her arms.
Blip continued, “You are.”
“I’m one of forty-two. That’s not special.”
Blip floated higher. He hummed a simple melody. A few notes. A lullaby.
Syn coughed on her next words, “Don’t sing that.”
Blip stopped. An electric blue smile crept across his face.
“Why did you do that?”
“They didn’t get lullabies at night.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It does. You had me.”
“They had companions.” Syn gestured toward the other Jacob lift.
“They killed them.” There was a tone of regret in Blip’s words.
Syn mumbled, “It doesn’t…”
“You and I are still together. You’re the only one of them that has their companion. They did terrible things. Remember, at least one of their companions fled from them.”
“Spot.” Syn did remember the companion that had fallen from the sky. The start to all this. It was such an anomaly. They had never seen another Blip.
Syn turned back and stared out the window. She kept glancing toward where they had just come. Could she see Kerwen in the fog? Could she see the others? She was too far away. She knew that. She just wished… In a voice that sounded as if it was coming from far away, far outside the ship, Syn said, “What if I had…”