Crux

73 MOTHER, MOTHER

Friday November 2nd

Ling’s bruises healed. Her burns covered themselves in a thin white protective layer which then sloughed off, revealing fresh, healthy skin below. No scar remained. She was her mother’s child, and her mother had given her every genetic advantage possible at the time of her creation.

She lived like a wild thing that week, like an animal, hiding in her den, venturing out when it was safe to scavenge food. She placed orders for groceries, used her father’s credentials, had them delivered while he was out, stocked into the pantry and refrigerator by the kitchen bot. If her father noticed or cared it didn’t show.

She missed Feng. Feng who was brave and strong and had always bounced her on his shoulders when she was little. Feng who could crush her father and take her away from here.

She missed Kade. Kade who was clever and would help her find some way…

Feng! she called out. FENG!

Kade! she tried. KADE!

Nothing. Nothing for days now. They were dead, or gone, or off the net. She was alone.

How long can I live like this? Ling wondered.

As long as I have to, until I get to Mother.

Everything changed on Friday, on the fourteenth day since she’d tried to free Mother.

The call came in a few minutes before midnight. Chen jumped as he saw the name. Sun Liu! The Minister of Science and Technology was calling him here!

He rushed into his bedroom, tapped the panel beside the door to seal the room, flicked to a different screen on the room control, and activated the privacy filter.

Then he took a deep breath and accepted the call.

“Chen.” Sun Liu’s voice was strained.

“Minister,” Chen replied. “I’ve tried everything, I assure you. Manipulation of her volition centers. Direct pain stimulation. Pulsed pain and pleasure. I assure you, I’ve tortured her, everything possible has been tried.”

“Chen,” Sun Liu interrupted. “It’s over. We’ve lost.”

Chen caught his breath. The minister sounded tired. No. Not tired.

Frightened.

“How…” Chen started. “How bad?”

There was silence on the line. Then Sun Liu spoke again. “They won’t call it a coup,” the Minister said. “I will… probably… be allowed to retire, rather than face…”

Sun Liu’s voice broke and he went silent.

Chen held his breath, and the Minister finished.

“Rather than face prosecution.”

Chen let out an involuntary noise.

“Everything has changed, Chen,” Sun Liu said. “Shanghai… whatever happened there, it has frightened the people, frightened the Assembly. It’s put the hardliners in the ascendency.”

Chen’s heart was pounding. “What… What…”

“They’ll want people to remain calm,” Sun Liu said. “They’ll do their best to make it look seamless. A period of ill health for the Secretary General. An early retirement, with great honors. A change in membership of the Standing Committee. New laws, for public safety, public order. Steps to avoid another Shanghai. Restrictions on dangerous technology, dangerous research.”

Sun Liu’s voice wavered as he spoke. He sounded so old, Chen thought. So beaten. The fear came through beneath his voice. “They’ll avoid outright murder,” the Minister continued. “I believe they will. Yes.”

Chen was sweating.

“Your wife,” Sun Liu said. “You must shut her down. Tomorrow. You must give them no excuse.”

Chen heard nothing after that. He barely remembered placing the calls to his staff, his assistant Li-hua. Tomorrow morning. They’d meet. They’d initiate the final backup. Then they’d shut her down.

And hope the hardliners didn’t take their heads as well.

Ling followed her father with her mind, routed around the room’s pitiful privacy filters, listened in to the call with the apartment’s audio monitors.

Later, she could not recall all that was said. Only fragments stuck with her through the haze of anger and grief, the overwhelming loss that poured through her, forcing tears from her human eyes.

“…tried everything… pain stimulation… tortured her…”

“…useless to us now… backup and deactivate… tomorrow…”

Her world went white, then, white-hot with the rage and loss. They were going to kill her mother! She felt the anger building inside her, felt the urge to lash out, to destroy this city, to topple the buildings, light them on fire, to kill them all, every single one of these humans who wanted to kill her mommy!

Her rage pulsated within her, straining to get out.

No, no, a voice whispered inside her. Not that way!

Aaaaaah! she screamed inside her mind, blind with the anger, with the urge to rip and rend at the electronic fabric of the city.

They’ll catch you! the voice whispered.

She pounded her tiny hands against the wall instead, channeled the rage towards something that would not lead them to her. Her fists pounded the wall.

And one of the panels slid away. There behind it was the freezer. The freezer she’d known was here. The freezer that held no food. The freezer that held something else entirely.