Page 63 of Guiding Reason
“The minimum distance between yourself and the Conduit is one meter, insurrectionist,” one of the bots said.
Both then hovered back. Not out of the room, of course. Col didn’t want to admit it, didn’t want to show it, but he was glad.I wish we had nice bots like these in the Grounds a lot more. He always had an easy enough time finding me back in Argentea.
Col finally turned. He took his time to give Alesa a look-over. He appeared to not have showered in two or three days. They had put him in thin beige clothing, pants, shirt, socks. A collar with a sedative ready to inject had been fitted snugly around his throat. He’d received care for a deep cut on his cheek, and his face was bruised all over, one eye partially swollen shut.
Col smiled, not friendly. “You look good, Alesa.” He took a seat lounging in a moldable in a corner and crossing his legs. “I especially like the collar.”
Alesa let seconds run out without saying a word. He sat, somewhat reluctantly, but still picking a moldable quite close to Col.
“All that time spent running after you, and yet here you are. You came to me.”
“I needed to see you one last time, I suppose. The once revered and celebrated leader of the Agri-Team. You are neither celebrated nor revered anymore. I wonder what the Judiciary-AIs will decide for you.”
Alesa smiled like all the many times Col had had to tell him not to call him by his first name, as if it were all a game with certain outcome, as if he were indulging Col, as if he knew something Col didn’t.
“You think with all the limitations of a Conduit, Coldis. That’s why I’m doing this. Conduits aren’t meant to be operatives or head a team like you do. You are meant to provide comfort to a Guardian, a strong Guardian. We’ll change things, Coldis. It will soon be a lot easier for everyone like you.”
Col decided not to correct Alesa about how to address him, for once. “Easier? How so?”
Alesa bought the fake interest and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “All I ever wanted was to make things easy for you. Did you know I liked you ever since I first saw you? Ah, you must have been in Year Five or Six at the time. I wanted you, and I would have made you feel so good, so right, but then you had to knee me when I tried.” His nostrils flared. “You’re just meant to channel. Pair every Guardian with a Conduit, and we’ll be strong enough to finally deal with every fucking Hound out there. We’ll rule this world once and for all, and we’ll rule past the walls, like kings and queens, Conduits our concubines.”
He might actually be broken in the head.Col had heard Anandas talk about winter kings, but those were decided on by the Hounds.Doesn’t seem to be what he has in mind.
Col looked at one of the security bots. “Has he been drugged? Those words are made-up gibberish.”
That pissed Alesa right off. “You think I’m fucking drugged?” he hissed even as the bot confirmed he wasn’t. “You just don’t know anything, Coldis. You don’t know how good it can feel to have a Guardian who takes care of you. You should have been on my team long ago, but you’re so stubborn, and you always had that idiot Senlas with you.” He calmed, settled back in his seat. “What’s it like, out there in the Grounds, with no Op-AI torun things, hmm? I bet you’re glad for the protection of a strong Guardian now. That could have been me, Coldis. I would have been good to you.”
Col smiled. “Oh, it’s not as bad as all that. You overestimate the effect you have on things. You should know, we Conduits will sometimes overstate the effect a Guardian has on us. Perhaps reevaluate some of the interactions you had with Conduits in that light.”
Alesa’s mouth became a grimace of displeasure. “You know no better, but you will. I have claimed you as my prize, and I will have you when this is all done.”
Col chuckled even as his hair stood on end. “But, Alesa, you are not leaving this place. You are an insurrectionist who killed both Guardians and Conduits, not to mention the regulars that fell to your whims. I doubt you’ll see daylight again.”
Alesa had always been smug, but the way he relaxed back in his seat and stretched out his legs now, it chilled Col like a wintry wind.
“Maybe. Maybe not. You are not as safe as you think, behind these walls. And as you’ve seen, AIs can be killed. You will leave this city with me, Coldis. You will be mine. That is certain. Accept it.”
“You’re talking about the friend of yours you snuck into the Argentean Grounds during Covenant Week.”
Alesa flinched, smugness draining, but he caught himself quickly enough.
Col cocked his head. “What? You have nothing to say to that?”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Then enlighten me. Why are all the Ferrean psionomancers dead?”
This time, he didn’t flinch like he had before, but his brows drew tight, and he clenched his jaw.This isn’t news to him. He knew.
“Conduits shouldn’t worry themselves over anything other than serving their Guardian. Like I said, you don’t know anything.”
“I know exactly where to find you should I have need of you ever again.” Col gestured to the bots. “Take him away.”
“You can feel it already. That you’re supposed to be mine. I know you can feel it!”
The bots hovered closer. “Get up, insurrectionist.”
Col knew Alesa was going to lunge before he did it. The bots grabbed him mid-move, but he managed to grab on to Col’s leg. Col reacted. He punched Alesa in the face the way he’d punched training dummies thousands of times.
