Page 42 of Coldwire
“The longer this goes on, NileCorp may not even believe it—”
“Enough with the negotiation,” Teryn snaps, and I stiffen. “You were given the fortuity of spearheading this task. There is no ‘your name’ to clear. There is NileCorp, who has thrown its lot in with you, and when you succeed, we all succeed. Is that received?”
I swear my allegiance to my team, my unit, my company.We’re all askedto recite the oath when we’re inducted onto a base. Our names printed onto the corporate logs of NileCorp security and signed off under James Moore’s approval.
“Received,” I say.
“Good. I’ll be nearby.”
Teryn releases me, and then she’s gone, slipping through the door for the residential twelfth floor. The handle clicks. I’m already running for the window, slamming my elbow through the glass and hoping the noise is enough to cover for her.
A sharp gust of wind howls into the stairwell. The rain has started at a steady mist. Gray and murky, creeping onto the ledge and immediately coating my hands when I grip the windowpane to push myself on.
Nik finally reaches me, closing his grip around my upper arm. I don’t turn to look at him.
“That’s enough,” he declares. “You and I both know you’re not going to throw yourself off.”
“Maybe not.” There’s always a smell that accompanies downcountry night rain. Reedy, lush, dirt-sodden. It’s what moss would smell like if left to grow in the crevices of old property, forgotten on each turnover of ownership until its presence becomes unbearable. “But I could attack you. You don’t have backup. You probably only had time to grab one weapon, and if the gun wasn’t within reach, then it’s something more makeshift.” I lurch forward an inch. His hands are slacker than they should have been. His fingers tighten to steel instantly upon prompt, but it’s too late. I already proved that he wasn’t being careful enough. “Maybe this was my plan. I saw the red light blinking on your door and knew you were watching me through the camera. I couldn’t risk you waking the rest of your team and ganging up on me. I had to lead you farther away. Somewhere I could throw usbothoff a very tall ledge.”
Nik has stilled behind me. The wind picks up. I’d always thought that one day, like every other soldier since the formation of nation-states, I’d give my life to my country for some paltry act of service that wouldn’t make afootnote in the historical accounts. After swearing into NileCorp, I realized I’d even overestimated my impact then. At no point was there any mention of Atahua in the oaths, the rules, the speeches. My loyalty was to my company. My company was who I’d end up giving my life for.
“Are you certain that you could overpower me and make the lunge?” Nik asks. “Should we test it out?”
I likely could. But I won’t.
I take too long to respond, and a biting metal sting on my wrist replaces the tight grip Nik had on my arm. He secures the other end of the magnetic cuff to himself.
“Don’t play tough,” he declares, yanking me off the ledge. “You’re only creating more trouble for yourself.”
“I had to see how dedicated you were,” I return. “Wasn’t sure how much I meant to you, and all that.”
Nik kicks aside a shard of glass that landed near his foot. The rain splatters through the broken window. A droplet hits him square on the nose, but he doesn’t pay it any mind.
“You’re our expert. If this was a loyalty test, I don’t know how it gets any more loyal than selecting you personally.”
But how did I appear on their radar? How did they come across anything relevant in my files that they decided could help them, unless they were already digging for specifics in the NileCorp database? And then, factoring in the coincidence that I was on the very team sent to capture Nik Grant when he first entered Button City, affording them the opportunity to set me up…
I make a vague noise.
Nik’s eyes narrow. Lightning shudders from the clouds. Quicksilver in every direction. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” There’s no sign of movement from the rest of the building anymore. Wherever Teryn has gone, she’s hidden well. If she’s brought a team at all, I pick up no indication we’re being watched. “You’ve got me. Take me back.”
10LIA
I close the door, thanking the robot that brought me my purchases from the marketplace. I’d chosen a random delivery app, whichever one had the fastest driving speeds across Upsie’s city center. In Medaluo, they all feed back into one conglomerate anyway—Golden Eagle, owned by a government official’s brother-in-law—so any choice is an illusion. Dad has been trying to shut down Golden Eagle’s subsidiaries in Atahua, fearful of Medaluo stealing Atahua’s data.
Which is a task solely to accommodate Atahuan patriotism given how much data about Atahuans our own NileCorp holds.
I rumple up the plastic bag, tossing it into the trash can. Kieren is lying in a starfish shape on the bed, making himself at home. He pays me no mind while I unwrap the toothpaste I ordered, squeezing a dollop onto my toothbrush before putting it in my mouth. I brush thoughtfully for a moment, still eyeing Kieren.
“Are you going to unpack?”
He frowns, lifting his head slightly. “What?”
My mouth is gargled full of toothpaste, turning my question intoArff aah to unpah?Kieren has the unique ability to predict exactly what I wantto contribute in class and frequently raises his hand to say it first and steal my limelight, so I would have thought he’d be able to understand me.
I go into the bathroom to spit out my froth. The full immersion of virtual reality doesn’t actually come from the photorealistic pixels or the physics engine: it comes from our bodily functions. That’s how James Moore opened his presentation the first time he went public with StrangeLoom at a NileCorp event. Though he was memed to death by people commentingbro wants us to hallucinate peeing, it sure did the trick once it went live. If we have to perform our usual menial tasks upcountry, there’s no separation from the real. I put my toothbrush at the edge of the sink.
