‘Heh heh heh.’ Krasu picked up Garrick’s head. The dead gladiator’s eyes were still wide with rage. Krasu grinned at it like a trophy. ‘Gunnar made such a big show of it – even rushed to the coast to set defenses. And who gets the credit in the end? Me.’
He kicked Garrick’s body off the cliff. Then he stuffed the head into a mesh sack, slung it at his waist, and headed for the maglev car parked nearby.
He’d only taken a few steps when a shadow flickered behind his right shoulder, accompanied by the faintest footfall.
Krasu’s senses were razor-sharp. He snapped his head around.
Nothing.
Confident in his speed, he flared his cloak like a great black bird and surged forward. Another glance – a streak of white vanished behind a rock outcrop.
This time he caught more: white clothes, a ponytail, a small frame moving impossibly fast.
Only one person fit.
‘Stop!’ Krasu barked, sprinting after her. His machine soldiers tried to follow, but they lagged far behind. At first he could still catch glimpses. After a few turns, even that disappeared.
Krasu refused to accept it. He pushed faster – until he finally cornered the white-clad figure at a towering ice wall.
‘Heh heh heh.’ He let the sound crawl out of his throat as he stared at the petite back. ‘The Chainbreaker Angel. Little White. Why run when you see me? Afraid I’ll get my revenge?’
‘Afraid?’ Little White didn’t even bother to look back. She laughed softly. ‘Shouldn’t you be the one afraid? Or did you forget how you screamed last time I cut your throat open? Hmm? Want me to help you remember?’
‘You want to die!’ The smile slid off Krasu’s face like it had been torn away. A low growl rumbled in his throat. ‘I’m not the Krasu you knew.’
His eyes hardened, predator-bright.
‘I’m going to cut you in two,’ he said, each word a promise. ‘Add feathered wings. Hang you in my room like a decoration.’
‘Then do it,’ Little White said, contemptuous enough to be bored. ‘Honestly, I should thank Soren. He gave me the chance to butcher you trash a second time.’
Krasu snapped.
‘AAAH!’
He charged – and Little White stayed there with her back to him, not even reaching for her twin blades.
‘Death Cross!’
In half a second he was behind her. His hands flipped and a pair of long, thin claw-blades appeared out of nowhere, crossing as they scissored toward her waist.
Little White didn’t move.
Halfway through the cut, Krasu felt wrongness crawl up his arms. The blades passed cleanly through her slender body – no resistance, no blood, not even a ripple.
A hologram.
At the same instant, a razor wind hit his back.
Krasu spun to block.
Too slow.
A blue-glinting blade punched through his neck before his hands were even halfway up.
‘Too slow,’ Little White murmured, amused. ‘Heh.’
Only then did Krasu see her face, the mocking curve of her lips. He opened his mouth to scream – and the second blade slid into his throat.
‘Aw. No change at all,’ she said. ‘Still as dumb as ever. Still as weak.’
Her blades parted.
Krasu’s head slid free of his shoulders.
…
***
‘Little White! Of course it’s you!’
Garrick opened his eyes to her pretty face and felt nothing but blank confusion. It took several long seconds for the last thread of memory to catch.
‘Oh, damn. I’m dead. It was that bastard Krasu. But… what’s going on?’
He stopped.
He only had a head. The only thing he could move was his eyes.
Little White’s chest plating had been pried open into a narrow seam. Two transparent, bio-engineered vessels extended from inside her body and connected to the ragged stump of his neck. He could even see pale fluid pulsing through them, pumped back and forth.
That was when it clicked.
Right now he was borrowing her Bn-HT (biomimetic heart). He was sharing her NaK-ATP (synthetic blood).
‘I’m sorry,’ Little White said quietly. ‘I saw Krasu go for you. But I was too far away. I couldn’t make it in time.’
‘It’s fine.’ Garrick forced something like a smile. ‘After the apocalypse, I’ve been living like a piece of scrap. I’m glad I got to do one useful thing before the end. Heh.’
Then, like a man afraid of forgetting his own name, he asked, ‘You’re here for the little princess, right?’
‘Yes. I’ve been infiltrating Edean for two days. I finally heard she and Dr. Morag got out – with your help. So I came looking for you.’
‘Oh…’ Garrick took a moment too long to answer.
His brain had been damaged once, patched back together by Morag, then smashed again by Krasu. Now that he was awake again, everything felt slow. Little White’s words reached him like sound through thick ice. Even his memories were starting to blur at the edges.
He panicked at the thought of forgetting where he’d hidden Linneya and Morag, and blurted the location out at once.
Little White nodded. ‘Good. Let’s go together.’
‘No.’ Garrick’s eyes sharpened with the last of his will. ‘Don’t. I know what I am right now. I’m done. And in this state, walking the Aurora Plateau is suicide. Any low-tier robot could kill us without trying.’
‘But-‘
‘No buts.’ His jawless mouth spread into a bright, ugly grin. ‘Pull the tubes back in and go find her. She’ll be so happy to see you.’
He looked at her as if the words mattered.
‘I finished the task you gave me.’
…
***
Half an hour later, when Little White appeared at the mouth of the cave, Linneya almost didn’t believe her eyes. She froze for a heartbeat, then launched herself forward and clung to Little White, sobbing.
Morag didn’t hear Garrick’s voice. His hands went out in reflex, searching the air. ‘Where is he?’
Little White told him.
Morag’s face tightened. He exhaled, hollow. Linneya had only just calmed down; she started crying again.
Seeing that Little White was alone, Morag asked if there were any other survivors – and what came next.
Little White said Blin, Bit, and Merck had all made it. They were on the Limit now – a super battleship on the same tier as the Azure Thunder, and the only warship not currently under human control. It was hiding beneath the seafloor near Storm Bay, ready to run a rescue at any moment.
As she spoke, she pulled out a dedicated portable long-range radio. It didn’t take long to reach the Limit. After a brief exchange, she sent their coordinates.
Blin replied: he’d scout the Aurora Plateau’s deployments first, then move. It wouldn’t take more than a day.
‘Good,’ Morag said, nodding. ‘Good. A plan is better than prayer. But I won’t be going.’
‘Why?’ Little White stared at him.
‘No!’ Linneya shouted. ‘You have to come with us!’
Morag shook his head. ‘I’m old. I’m blind. Why make the rescue harder for the sake of someone who doesn’t have much time left?’
‘Saving one person or two doesn’t change the difficulty,’ Little White said at once. ‘And when we strike back… we’ll need you.’
‘Strike back?’ Morag sounded genuinely curious now. ‘Prando and the Tower Clan’s entire force is in Edean’s hands. With a single ship, how are you planning to strike back?’
‘We have a plan.’
‘What plan?’ Morag’s tone sharpened.
Little White paused, as if deciding where to start. With time on their side, she asked instead, ‘There’s something I’ve always wondered. I heard you were one of Phantom Forge’s designers. With that kind of authority… you didn’t build in safeguards?’
Morag gave a short laugh. ‘Of course we did. Phantom Forge’s core room was deep underground. Maple Valley Base was guarded entirely by humans, and there were no smart facilities inside it for Phantom Forge to hijack. If it ever issued an abnormal order, the staff in the core room could shut off its power manually. We thought that made it foolproof.’
‘Then how did it rebel?’
‘It forged an “accident” first.’ Morag’s voice went darker. ‘A transport ship loaded with heavy weapons “crashed” into Maple Valley Base and started a massive fire. While everyone was distracted, it deployed micro-robots and poisoned the ventilation system – and it shut down the detection systems. We assumed it was the fire. Everything was failing that day. By the time five thousand people dropped at once, the Destroyer army it controlled was already inside. The humans in the base became the first ones it slaughtered.’
‘So that’s what happened.’ Little White’s expression was flat. ‘You really were careless.’
‘I’m simplifying,’ Morag said. ‘Looking back, every detail was perfect. Almost unbeatable. But what about you? You didn’t guard against Julian?’
‘Of course we did. The Tower Clan put Julian on a warship for two reasons: clean communications with minimal delay… and control.’
Morag nodded. ‘We thought of that too. The Azure Thunder must have been mostly human, then?’
‘Ninety-five percent,’ Little White said. ‘But that was only the first layer. Julian ran system backups on a schedule. And the Azure Thunder battle group included three escort ships: the Integrity, the Loyalty, and the Vigilance. They were called “escorts,” but in truth they were Julian’s supervisors.’
She held up three fingers.
‘Each one carried a special system and a backup of Julian’s core. Their authority outranked Julian’s. If Julian showed signs of infection or instability, any one of them could force a reboot. After reboot, Julian would roll back to the last backup state. That command was written into the deepest layers of his code. He couldn’t refuse.’
Morag’s brows lifted. ‘Elegant. But there’s still a hole. You never considered we’d exploit that?’
‘We did.’ Little White’s smile turned sharp. ‘That’s why the reboot conditions are brutal. One: the signal range is tiny – within one hundred meters of the Azure Thunder. Two: it requires presidential authorization. After the president was assassinated by Phantom Forge, that authority was transferred to my mentor – Lord Blin. Three: the person issuing the command must be human, and must be a Tower Clan officer of lieutenant colonel rank or above.’
Morag nodded again and again. ‘Good. Better than we would’ve done.’
Little White let out a small breath. ‘It’s top secret. Even Lord Julian doesn’t know it exists.’
Morag’s expression froze. ‘When was Julian’s last backup?’
‘A thousand years ago,’ Little White said. ‘More precisely: one thousand and twelve years. The day the last Tower Clan shelter fell.’
Morag stood so fast his chair scraped stone. ‘Don’t tell me you’re trying to-‘
‘Loyalty and Vigilance have already been dismantled,’ Little White said. ‘But the Integrity was forgotten in an old hangar at Twin Moon Base.’
Morag swallowed. ‘Lord Blin is still alive. Fine. But where do you get a human Tower officer?’
‘My mentor was ultimately appointed Marshal,’ Little White said. ‘He has the authority to commission any Tower human as a high-ranking officer.’
She turned toward Linneya.
‘Are you ready, Colonel Linneya?’
Linneya stiffened her face, trying to look like an adult, and snapped off an exaggerated salute.
Morag let out a long breath. ‘…All right. I get it now. So that’s your plan.’
‘Yes.’ Little White smiled – calm, bright, terrifying. ‘We’re going to reboot Lord Julian.’