Subtle Weapon, page 8
part #2 of ShadowTech Series
“There were a lot of complications,” Deva started, but Chiron held up a hand.
“Not you.” He pointed to Keelin. “You.”
“Procedure went wrong,” Keelin said with a shrug. “Not sure of the details.”
“What kind of procedure?”
“Lattice tweak.”
“Lattice tweak?”
Keelin shot Deva a glance. Deva shrugged, said, “She’s been having problems. Glitches, you know? Thought it would be a simple operation, but the guy was…back-street.”
Chiron stroked his chin. He turned to Lise. “Are you buying this?”
Lise’s eyes narrowed. “They’re careful with their words. The whole story’s a fabrication, but…more a twist on truth than downright falsehoods.”
“They gave false names, though.”
Lise shook her head, then pointed at Deva. “This one was sneaky. She said, and I quote, ‘Call me Cara.’ Never said that was her real name. And then she pointed to her colleague, said ‘Brienne’. Again, wasn’t a clear statement.”
Deva swallowed.
“So the story’s a combination of fact and fiction.” Chiron raised an eyebrow. “Replace the submersible with a craft, something like a Proteus, and we might be approaching the truth.”
“It wouldn’t be impossible to land a Proteus on the far side of the volcano,” Lise said. “There are a couple of ledges where a decent pilot could settle a craft. It’s feasible they could have climbed into the crater, then out the other side.”
“Or gone through the tunnels.”
“In a Proteus?”
“It’s a possibility. Would take a skilled pilot and a lot of luck. And then, they could’ve climbed out of the crater. I’m not convinced this Cara could make it, but her colleague is, I’d say, more than capable of climbing, even with extra weight.”
Lise pulled a face. “I suppose. Or they’re from the company. Either way, they’re a security risk. The timing’s suspicious.”
“So what would be your suggestion?”
“We can’t let them leave.”
Keelin leaned in, pushed her snout forward. “You reckon you can stop us?”
Deva reached out and placed a hand on Keelin’s arm. It was hard, the muscles tight. But Keelin eased back a fraction.
“You’re in an armed compound,” Chiron said. “We have enough force to stop a couple of prisoners, even one like you.”
He stared hard at Keelin. Keelin sat tall.
“You don’t know the first thing about me,” she said.
“Don’t be so sure.”
“I could kill you both in a heartbeat.”
Chiron nodded. “And I’m sure you’d get through many of our people too. But we have numbers on our side. And we have weapons.” He smiled. “Enough to take down a NeoGen.”
Keelin
Keelin wanted to rip Chiron’s throat out.
He knew she was a NeoGen. He knew about the program. And he had a lattice. He was Kaiahive. Had to be.
And now, he stood. He walked around the table, looking at her. No, studying her, like she was a specimen.
Keelin pushed down her adrenaline, forced herself to remain calm.
“Amazing,” he said when he faced her once more. “An incredible creation.”
Deva thumped her hand on the table. “She’s a person. Don’t treat her like that.”
“I know. I meant no disrespect. She’s an incredible person. One of ten, yes? That was always the plan—ten in the initial stage.”
Initial stage? Did that mean Kaiahive were turning out more NeoGens?
“They even gave you names, didn’t they?” Chiron continued. “Based on old counting systems. Ena, Dyo, Tria. Of course, things might’ve changed.”
Keelin shook her head, couldn’t help it. Memories surged, of her sisters, of Enya and Dia and Treya. But not their real names. They were labels, assigned by those butchers who had turned them into beasts.
“Which one were you?” Chiron asked. And his voice was soft, almost gentle.
Keelin pushed her shoulders back. “That name has no meaning.”
“Of course. A label, nothing more. So what do I call you? The name Brienne has no root, does it?”
Keelin shook her head. She met his eyes. They were hard, but there was an honesty about them.
<I was NuGamma Eksi,> she sussed, not trusting herself to let the name fall from her lips. <Familiar name Kesia.>
<Thank you. Eksi. The sixth, yes?>
<Yes.>
<But I can’t call you Eksi, or Kesia. You’re not with the company now, are you?>
<They deserve to die!>
“What do I call you?” he asked again.
“Keelin.”
“Thank you, Keelin.” He turned to Deva. “And your colleague?”
“This is Deva.”
His eyes glazed for a moment. “A dormant lattice. It doesn’t feel cut off. It’s always been inactive?”
Deva frowned. Keelin nodded.
“Never took,” Deva said.
Chiron pulled a face. “It happens. For all their superiority, the company don’t know everything. And they tend to…dispose of their mistakes. Your presence here, both of you, confirms that. It also, thankfully, shows that their disposal is not always permanent.”
The frown hadn’t left Deva’s face. “Be interested to hear your story.” Her voice was harsh. “They dispose of you too?”
“They might see things that way. I prefer to believe I escaped.”
Deva leaned back, crossing her arms. “So you were Kaiahive. And for all we know, you still are.”
“I assure you, I’m not.”
“The assurance of a company man.” Deva huffed. “Not something I trust.”
“Your friend was Kaiahive.”
“And look what they did to her. Doesn’t change things. Can’t believe a word you say.”
Keelin reached forward. Her hand hovered over Deva’s arm. “All need to stay calm.”
Deva’s head whipped around, but her mouth twitched, and she nodded. And Chiron sat back, too.
Lise watched everything, Keelin noted—constantly analysing, taking everything in. She couldn’t be trusted. Nor could Chiron.
Even though he seemed genuine. Maybe he had escaped from the company.
She forced calmness, decided to meet him half-way. “You were deep Kaiahive,” she said. “Must’ve been, to know about the NeoGen program.”
He nodded. “I was.”
“And you can guarantee you’re still not with them?”
“I can.”
“Need more than words.”
“Then check me out.”
Keelin frowned. “What?”
“Check me out. You can feel my lattice, can’t you? When the company changed you into a NeoGen, they gave you the ability to deep-dive the lattices of others. So read mine. Check the updates and tweaks. You’ll find nothing from the last year. If I was still with the company, especially if I was on a clandestine mission, don’t you think they’d ensure I had every advantage?”
“Not necessarily. They might keep you cut down so you didn’t stick out.”
“Check my ident. You know how to do that, don’t you?”
Keelin started to shake her head, but paused.
Every lattice had an ident. The knowledge existed in her mind, but only now did she know it. Like it had been placed there.
Not in her mind but in her lattice’s node.
She pushed against the knowledge, gently. She massaged her node with her consciousness.
Yes. There was a data packet, hidden beneath folds of memory. It was connected, with open access, but the access was…was convoluted.
“They never told you, did they?” Chiron said. “You’ve broken through the loyalty protocols, but there is still more information planted within. You’re capable of going even further. Your initial training was only the start.”
“If that’s true,” she said, slowly, “and you know it, then you must’ve been high up.”
“But I’m not now. Focus. Read my ident and you’ll know.”
She wanted to tell him that she didn’t know how to, but that was no longer true. It was like he’d given her a key. She turned it, saw her own ident, and with it understood her lattice’s history. It was written there, in code that swirled in her lenses, slowly morphing into patterns—shapes, letters, numbers. Understanding.
She saw the point at which Kaiahive had operated, turning her from a person into this beast. The packet of information for that transformation was huge, too large to fully parse at the moment. So Keelin pushed back, saw the history of her regular lattice checks, the minor tweaks performed over her time with the company, right back to her initialisation.
Then she ran forward in time, past the moment she became a NeoGen. She read the changes as she underwent training, then the subtle shifts as her lattice adjusted itself to her new physical abilities, in line with pre-directed code. She understood this without fully understanding, just like she knew how to use her body without understanding the exact processes, without knowing how chemicals fired to trigger synapses, how lactic acid worked, how haemoglobin operated.
She understood all of this. And she saw the subtle guidance from Kaiahive itself, the way they amended minor points remotely in those first few months of her transformation.
Then there was the schism.
That was the best way to picture it. The patterns drifted with subtle manipulation, and then suddenly they jumped. One moment they made sense, the next they were in turmoil.
The moment of her awakening. The moment the NeoGen recalled her past life. The moment she once more became Keelin.
Then the patterns settled, but into a different normality.
There were attacks from outside. She read the data, and knew that Kaiahive had attempted remote amendments. But she’d blocked them, without knowing she was doing so. That awakening had severed her lattice from Kaiahive’s interference.
“You’re understanding,” Chiron said. “You see the way the company made you a slave to your very core. But you broke free, didn’t you? You destroyed their loyalty protocols.” He smiled. “I’d heard rumours—I still have my sources. Some say one NeoGen went rogue. Others say the whole cohort broke away.”
His words brought back more memories, but Keelin forced them aside. Instead, she concentrated on his trace.
It wasn’t strong, but it ran deep. She caught its taste, and followed, using her new knowledge. The key he’d offered opened up doors, and she saw inside, saw his own lattice node.
She wondered if this was how Ryann read lattices. But Kaiahive wouldn’t want anyone but their most trusted and loyal going this deep. If Ryann experienced this, it was only superficially.
Keelin saw Chiron’s data, knew he used his lattice only in the background now. There were occasional flurries of activity that she interpreted as susurrations—again, she knew this without knowing how, but she went with it, trusted her new ability. And she read other activity, when he’d pushed his body harder than it could go on its own.
She scrolled through the patterns, watched his history play across her lenses.
A year ago, the activity changed. Before this he flourished, his lattice a constant buzz. He used his lattice as much as he could.
Then it stopped.
She pushed deeper, seeking new patterns. And he talked on, his voice distant and soothing.
“You can feel it, can’t you? The moment I turned away. I left the project, and knew I couldn’t be a part of the company anymore. I’d been planning it for months, maybe even years. Who knows how minds work deep in the subconscious? I knew I’d only get one shot, that if it failed I’d be seen as a traitor to the company. And we both know how that would play out. So I was careful. I found someone who could sever certain connections, who could break the bond between lattice and Kaiahive.”
The patterns fell into place, and Keelin read the truth of his words in them.
“And so you see, don’t you? If I was still with the company, I’d still have that connection. They might hide it, but you’d find it. Trust me on this. I was part of the team that designed the hidden packets, so I know what you’re truly capable of. If I was still joined to Kaiahive you’d know. But I’m not. You can see the truth in my words. Can’t you?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
But she could see even more. She could see how he struggled, inside. He used his lattice as a tool, but it was at a cost to his conscience.
“You don’t want a lattice,” she said.
He shook his head. “A discussion for another time. Every blessing is also a curse—something I’m sure you understand.”
Of course she did.
And Keelin knew she had to learn more from this man.
Deva
The man was charismatic, and Deva reminded herself over and over that she couldn’t trust him. Just look how he was playing Keelin.
She didn’t interrupt, though. How could she, when Keelin was so…enamoured? And Deva could understand that—the man spoke to Keelin’s heart, to the monster inside. He knew her, in a way Deva never could.
If she interrupted, Keelin would turn on her. Deva was sure of it.
So she listened, and she thought. Yeah, she might accept that the man wasn’t Kaiahive anymore, but there was more going on here. There was the whole compound. It was…too organised.
Why here? This island was supposed to be deserted, yet the company seemed to have settled into the crater, and there was this other group, outside.
Working together? No. Deva reckoned this group, with Chiron in charge, was hiding from the company. But they were also…watching? Was that it? Were they spying on the company’s activities?
It was a possibility, but who would have the resources to do that? Took a lot to build a secret base like this—the room they sat in was clearly underground, and Keelin had mentioned that trapdoor, probably led to more underground rooms.
This wasn’t some fly-by-night set-up.
So as Chiron spun his vocal chains around Keelin, Deva drifted into her mind, trying to see the bigger picture.
The terminal on the table in front of Lise flashed with an incoming message—Deva had used similar systems when working on larger craft. The woman tilted the terminal to hide the message itself, but she frowned, then passed it over to Chiron.
His face screwed up. “If you’ll excuse us a moment,” he said.
Deva folded her arms. “Your place. Do whatever you want.”
Chiron looked at Keelin, and his eyes glazed over for a moment. Keelin didn’t move, sat back. Then Chiron rose and, Lise in tow, left the room.
“What the hell was that about?” Deva said when the door closed.
“What?”
“You were sussing.”
“Thought you’d notice. Nothing to worry about. He told me to keep you calm, that’s all.”
“That’s all? What, he reckons you’re in charge of me?”
“Pretty much what I told him. He didn’t respond. Couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or what.”
Deva snorted. “Oh, he’s annoyed. He’s trying to get us to believe him, and it’s not working.”
“So you don’t trust him?”
“Hell, no!”
“Why not?”
Deva sat back. “You trust him?”
“Didn’t say that. Just…gathering data. Why don’t you trust him.”
“You have to ask? He’s Kaiahive.”
“Was.”
“So he says. But he’s the only one round here with a lattice. He’s playing an angle. This whole set-up’s dodgy. Too organised. And…and they know too much. About us. And she’s as bad as him. Can’t trust either of them”
Thoughts rose. Deva did her best to put them into words.
“Like our names. Used Cara so many times over the last month, it slips off my tongue. I know I didn’t give anything away. That crap about being careful with my words—wasn’t anything like that.”
“What are you saying?”
Deva pulled her collar from her neck. The sweat on her back cooled, made her skin itch. “She knew. Before we got here, she knew about us. Not just that we’d come down from the volcano, but who we are. I mean, think of how she looks at you. Has trouble doing that, but there was no big initial shock.”
“Could’ve seen images. Guards who brought us in were in communication with this place.” But Keelin didn’t sound convinced.
“And Chiron. He asked you stuff, about being a NeoGen, right? Sussed. Got you to open up, from the way you acted. But he only managed to do that because he already knew what you’d say.” She shook her head. “Don’t you get it? They know too much. Means they’re organised—and not only on this island. This lot are a small part of the larger organisation, right?”
“Go on.”
“I have to say it?”
“Yeah. Can’t pretend it’s not true once the words are out.”
Deva closed her eyes. This wasn’t logical, but it made all kinds of sense. These people pitted themselves against Kaiahive. That proved nothing in itself, but there was the scale of the organisation. And the way they knew too much.
She let the words free. “They’re Heralds,” she said.
Keelin
The door opened, as soon as Deva said those words, and Chiron strode into the room.
No Lise. Keelin couldn’t tell if that was significant. Wanted to ask what was happening. But Deva shot to her feet. She called out, some garbled insult, and threw herself at Chiron.
Keelin moved on instinct, held her friend, pinned those thin arms to her side.
Deva snapped her head round, hair flying. She kicked out, her boot waving uselessly in the air.
Chiron stood immobile.
“You’re smart,” he said. “I wanted to be upfront with you, but Lise…advised caution. She’s a better judge of character than I am. Usually.” He shrugged. “I never meant to deceive you, Deva. Nor you, Keelin.”
