Page 2 of Echoes of the Tide

“You up, Tera?”

There were five beads in total. At the sound of the droid’s name, they all rolled to look up at her. When Tera was actually awake, she looked like a handful of eyeballs.

Grinning, Ace asked, “You wanna fix a bolt drone?”

That woke the droid up pretty quickly. The beads all rolled in her hands, detaching magnets so individual ones could zip around the room. It was the most genius droid she’d ever created. Tera was essentially multiple individual droids in each of those beads. Magnets and hard drives in each one made it so that it could latch onto anything metal, roll freely, and still dragwhatever it was attached to. In a matter of seconds, she had all the parts she would need to put the bolt drone back together.

“Droids make everything so easy.” And that was why she loved them so much.

Then Ace got lost in her work, putting the drone together with hammer and screws until it was nearly as good as it had been before. The sounds of the workshop drowned out the memories that threatened her too still mind. No one could think when all they could hear was metallic bangs and zipping screws.

“Nasty little sucker,” she muttered, making sure it was off before she placed it on the ground.

A bolt drone fired electrical bolts at anyone that moved in front of it. The weapon was a necessary part of living in Gamma. Too many people with too much violence in their bones lived here to be without protection.

She stood, cracking her back and trying to get feeling back into her numb ass as she stood in front of her window and looked through the water at all the other towers that made up this city. She’d heard once they looked like old skyscrapers, whatever that meant, with glass bridges that connected them. But each bridge was protected by another gang or segment of a gang that ran that particular tower.

Making friends with a gang was the best way to survive, and it was certainly what she had done. Fixing up drones so they could shoot anyone that tried to cross their bridge? Sure, she could do that. Make the bolts with higher electricity? Easy work. Whatever it took to stay alive in this place, even if that meant killing folks.

No one was innocent in these cities. Not even herself.

The trap door that opened into her room banged open. A dark, greasy-haired head stuck through it, and the man grinned at her. He was missing teeth, quite a few of them, but that grin somehow still made her smile back.

“You got it done?”

“Just in time.”

“Good, the boss wants to see you again.” He hauled himself up through the trapdoor and sat on the edge while letting his legs dangle. “So you really got it done? With the upgraded bolts?”

“The bolts I did awhile ago, Gregor.” Ace wrapped everything up together, each in its own package, so the bolts didn’t accidentally activate and then kill them all in a chain reaction. “What’s he want with it, anyway?”

“Boss didn’t say. I got a feeling it’s something to do with those undine coming to see us.” Again that gap-toothed grin. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Was that today?

Fuck. She hadn’t realized it was today, and she wasn’t prepared at all. The undine were coming here to make a deal, and she’d been part of that conversation. Ace had been talking to them for a while now and that... well, it had made everything a little complicated.

Talking to one in the same way she’d talked with Anya had spun her head for a bit of a loop. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was feeling about it still. The undine had been capable of using technology. He had talked to her like a real person, and asked questions about things that she hadn’t even realized they understood, let alone knew about. And then she’d worked with him to bring Alpha to the ground, which, on top of everything else, was the most surprising.

She had her own reasons for wanting to destroy Alpha. So did Anya, most likely. But the undine were an entirely uncontrollable part in the plan.

“Right,” she muttered, looking around for Tera before gathering up all the steel pearls and sliding them into her pocket. “I know enough about it to be nervous. They’re coming right now?”

“You’re the one who set up the meeting.”

“I know I did, I just... I lost track of time.”

She looked out her window, and every thought in her mind trickled away.

The undine weren’t just coming, they were already here. She could see their dark shadows sliding through the murk. Their undulating movements were so graceful and mimicked how she’d seen whales swimming in the depths. And these creatures were huge. Massive beasts with the torsos of men and women. Their tails moved up and down, flicking a silhouette of a massive paddle shape that propelled them through the water with ease. Each one of them had long hair that flowed behind them. Even at this distance, she could see the webs of their hands that slashed through the water and helped them swim even faster.

“Wow,” she whispered, and Gregor stood behind her.

He whistled low under his breath. “Those are some big beasts.”

“I heard they can get up to twenty feet long.”

“Never seen one this close before. I’ve only seen them from far away, when they’re lurking in the depths looking at our city.” He pushed air through his teeth, then shook his head. “Never thought I’d be this close to one, either. Aren’t they supposed to be real dangerous?”

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