Page 62 of Violet Spark
“And I just want my moths back. It’s the only synergized hive to survive integration, and it’s the key to…everything. So I really think we’re on the same page here, Mo.”
I glanced at his thumb on the cartridge release. “What will happen to the bugs you left behind?” Would Dane collect those and not need me anymore?
“Those were first-gen constructs, before we started experimenting with symbiosis with a biological host to stabilize the hive’s energy demands. They’ll degrade after they complete their programmed tasks. Nothing left but some carbon dust.”
Was that my future too? Dane suggested my body wasn’t handling the moths well. Or was that another lie?
Alling straightened in his seat, his attention on his phone, giving me a chance to contemplate all my terrible life choices. My thoughts bounced around in my head, more chaotic than the moths still stuck in the cartridge. But everything came back to a baseline truth, no gradient fill, just stark black and white: I didn’t know what I was doing, I didn’t know what Icoulddo, but Alling seemed to have all the answers and the resources to help. I should’ve told him everything in the beginning. Left my mom out of it.
The freeway was all but empty at this time of night, and when the lights of the city finally appeared, it should’ve been a relief from the desert darkness. Instead, I tensed up. This ride through the night couldn’t last forever, but my heartbeat was stuttering at what might be next.
And not just because Mom was—rightly—gonna yell at me.
When we turned off the freeway onto an access road, I recognized the generic corporate park we were zooming through. We were heading back to BantaMatrix.
Which made sense. All the technology they needed to do…whateverto me would be here. And so was Mom. Abruptly, I leaned forward, fast enough to see Alling’s cell phone before he blanked it.
Chopper inbound, the last message read.
Not good. Maybe Alling was taking me somewhere farther away.
“I want to see my mom,” I remind him.
“Oh, she’ll be waiting. But we have some work to do first.”
Dammit, dammit. Of course he was already going back on his word.
I sat back again as the car turned toward the three-story stucco building that housed the technology company. The parking lot held only a few cars, and our driver took us right to the front door.
Alling glanced back at Carlo 2.0. “Make sure we aren’t followed.”
With a curt nod, the goon thrust open the door and got out. In theory, I had more breathing room now, but it really wasn’t doing anything except letting my racing heartbeat run in bigger circles.
Jen 2.0 gestured for me to follow. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Too late,” I muttered. He gave me another of those snorts as if he commiserated.
Alling was already at the big glass doors, his palm flattened to an unobtrusive scanner set within the pane. The doors clicked, and the driver yanked one open to let us in. I followed, not doing anything stupid because I’d clearly blown right through my stupid budget for one lifetime.
The security guard rose from behind the big central desk. Unlike the cute girl with the gauged ears who had been at the desk the first time, this guy was clearly just night security, with a radio and a Taser at the front of his belt. I wondered if he had a gun on him too. My pulse ramped up even higher until my head was spinning.
“Mr. Alling,” he called. “I didn’t know you were scheduled tonight.”
Alling waved one hand—the one with the nanobot cartridge although he didn’t release the moths. “Another late night, Luis.” His voice held that jovial bonhomie that had set my teeth on edge before.
And judging by Luis’s set smile, he also wasn’t impressed with who got the first name treatment here at BantaMatrix. His gaze flicked over me before moving on to Alling’s goons.
“It’ll just take me a minute to issue badges for your guests,” Luis said.
Alling shook his head. “They won’t be staying long.”
Interesting. The goons were Alling’s, not BantaMatrix’s. If Alling was so far off the books that he had his very own goon squad, he was desperate enough to do whatever it took to take control of me and my bugs.
“I’ll just put their names in the system then,” Luis said.
Alling’s perpetual smile faded. “We have an important experiment running right now that we need to get to, Luis. We’ll just head in now. You can send a couple generic badges down whenever you get the chance.”
Luis side-eyed the two goons. Yeah, I didn’t believe they were scientists either. For half a frantic heartbeat, I wanted to throw myself at the mercy of Luis and his radio and his Taser. He obviously had conflicting feelings about Alling.
