Page 151 of Coldwire
I can recall everything again. Erasing myself each time NileCorp relaunched Lia Ward. My neural network, taken out and downloaded into an organic body. Eirale Ward, forced into existence solely to give my personhood some time to develop, to let new connections grow over the top of my resentment and resistance. All those mixed-reality simulations I performed at the Button City base—the NileCorp rogue unit was imitating that final day up in Kunlun. With every week that passed as Eirale, they were making sure Lia wasn’t coming back. Once enough time had gone by, once Eirale Ward had truly stabilized from that download, they were going to send me upcountry as a new avatar, merge that version of me with Coldwire. Re-create the weapon they’d wanted.
But that was all threatened by Kieren trying to get me back. When they realized there was one more copy of Lia Ward outside their grasp.
“You dickhead,” is the first thing I manage to wheeze. “It’s illegal to change your appearance upcountry.”
Kieren releases a single laugh, the sound filled with such bewilderment that he almost looks scared. The image of him before me is jarring alongside the memories I’ve suddenly recovered. I’ve only known this face of his as Nik Grant. Kieren Murray appeared entirely different.
“Come on,” Kieren says, giving me his hand. “We have to get out of here first. I don’t know who has arrived outside, but someone clearly has.”
I scramble to my feet woozily, blood rushing from my head. My mind fights through the collision between the fake memories installed in Eirale and the real ones trying to fill the gaps. Dad, Haven State—real. Foster care, years and years alone—false. Rayna.Rayna.
“Miz,” I realize with a gasp.
Kieren swings my arm over his shoulders, holding my weight to walk. “Yeah. She’s not even Medan, by the way. A week after we went dark to flee NileCorp, her orphan file opened up. She was so depressed about having to run and leave her mom behind without explanation that she tracked down her birth parents to fill the void. Which, you know, made her resentment toward NileCorp even worse. Her birth parents were Pyaish. Atahua changed it on purpose so she would be mandated into military school.”
He slams the server room door open, peering out into the hallway. When our immediate vicinity seems clear, he squeezes my hand twice, then tugs us out to keep moving. I have so many matters to ask about at once. A year’s worth of questions.
“That’s terrible. And Hailey?”
Kieren shakes his head. “We don’t know. She hasn’t woken up. We were hoping you’d have the answers once we restored you. NileCorp managed to suppress the scandal of me disappearing, but they didn’t react in time to hide that Hailey’s in a coma. My mom swooped home to scream at everyone. I think the only reason NileCorp hasn’t made any active threats toward me by seizing Hailey is because my mom is taking care of her, and she has that livestream running twenty-four seven. Her viewers have been asking where her sons are. She just ignores them.”
We take a left.
“Shit,” I mutter. “Blare.Weston.”
Their faces don’t match, but now that I’ve merged back with my memories as Lia, there can be only one explanation.
“Blare really did change their name properly. It wasn’t just to evade the law like me,” Kieren says.
“I bet all that kept my memory away for longer,” I mutter. “As did your continued insistence on pretending we were looking for Operation Coldwire so that you could mimic our final posting again.There’s a Medan government program broken up across three files in three locations.Really, Kieren?”
Kieren rolls his eyes good-naturedly, and in that motion alone, his face becomes familiar. He becomes the Kieren I know. I haven’t seen it the entire time we’ve been downcountry.
“I had to come up with a reason why we needed you,” he says. “That way you’d take our threats against you seriously and stay with us.”
Because the only true reason had been to keep me away from NileCorp. To take me along for the ride until they could pick up my pieces across the three locations, then restore me.
“You did a great job,” I mutter.
My mind is still swirling. Kieren, Nik. Nik, Kieren.
“Whydoyou and Blare both look different?”
We hurry up a set of stairs. Kieren glances behind us every so often, ensuring that there is no pursuit.
“My siblings and I have avatars customized to look different from our actual faces. It’s a safety feature. Prevents kidnapping attempts of affluent children when people don’t recognize their targets downcountry. NileCorp also recommends it for high-level employees and their spouses. My mom opted out. My dad took minor adjustments.” Kieren’s jaw tightens, facing forward again. “Little good that did for him at the end of the day.”
I stifle a breath, a new piece clicking into place. The nightclub. Thesecretary of defense. Kieren, firing the shot that set off everything—and killing the man who Indisposed his father.
“Kieren,” I say suddenly. “What happened to my dad this past year?”
In that fake life they drew up for Eirale Ward, they’d gotten rid of him entirely. I was left to run around Button City, and I couldn’t have known to check on him. I couldn’t have known to search for him.
“Nothing,” Kieren answers. The ramps underneath our feet are starting to even out. We’re approaching ground level, emerging back to the top of the facility. “You remember the Atahuan media accusing Medaluo of infringing on human rights in Kunlun?”
I nod. How could I forget? I watched those news segments over and over again trying to prompt some familiarity in my memory.
“Of course. Everyone in Kunlun was wondering why NileCorp’s private soldiers had flooded their streets.”
