Mateo is getting out of the hospital today. Constance!Five worked him over
pretty good, but he’s still wearing a highly advanced substrate, so he heals
fast. A little rest, a little protein, a little sun, and he’s as good as
new. Ramses is with him now while Leona and Alyssa are getting the house
ready. It’s Arcadia and Vearden’s house. It was nowhere near large enough to
accommodate the whole team back when they first bought it, but their numbers
have been pared down significantly since then. Mateo and Leona will get the
second bedroom. The boys will get what is eventually going to become the
nursery. Ramses and Alyssa are going to share the master bedroom, because
it’s the largest. They’ll erect a curtain for more privacy. Arcadia is being
moved to a long-term wing, to a room that can fit a companion.
For now, there is no lab. Normal technology is fine, like handhelds and
tablets, but nothing advanced can be trusted. Constance!Five may have wormed
her way into the internet, but she can do more damage with a teleporter gun
than a phone. Ramses will work on a way of detecting and neutralizing the
threat, but not here, and not now.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” Alyssa says as they’re
carrying the crib down to the basement.
“What is it?” Leona asks.
“Mateo and Vearden want to get rid of the stasis pod, and everything that’s
in it.”
“That’s the goal.” She looks over her shoulder to recount the number of
steps.
“They want to do it now. Mateo’s idea was to teleport it to a volcano, and
then his second idea was to shoot it into the sun.”
“Neither of those ideas is going to work.” They set the crib down in the
corner.
“I suggested we try to take it back to the Constant.”
“Ugh.” Leona pulls some cobwebs out of her hair. “We don’t know where it is
anymore. Besides, what makes you think Danica and all them will help us?”
“They don’t have to want to help us,” Alyssa says. “We’ll drop it off and
fly away. What are they gonna do, return it? Good luck; they don’t have a
receipt. It was a gift.”
“No. We can’t have that. Even if we successfully convince them that this
version of Constance is dangerous, that’s the most powerful building in the
universe. We don’t want her anywhere near it. That may be where she wanted
to go all along. Just being in proximity—even while in stasis—could trigger
this reality’s Constance into turning evil.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”
“Sorry, the pod stays where it is. I know that means she continues to
survive, but it’s our only option right now.” Transporting her anywhere is
too dangerous. They know that she’s framejacking in there. That’s okay for
now, because it’s a function of mental speed, not physical motion. But one
day, she will break out of that pod, and moving her could expedite that. “We
don’t know enough about her yet. I need your help.”
“With what?” Alyssa asks, looking around the basement.
“With making sure my husband doesn’t do something stupid. I wish he would
always listen to me, but he...I don’t know, he just doesn’t. He has a soft
spot for young women, though not in the way you think. He sees the helpless
naïve girl that I was when we met. I’m not saying you should manipulate him,
but you can...guide his choices.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
No comments :
Post a Comment