CARNIVAL (The Spark Form Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  "You and I are the same? How dare you. How fucking dare you, you worthless piece of shit. All this woe is me crap is nothing ... Nothing! ... compared to what me and every other Offlander goes through every fucking day. I have seen people refused service because, like me, they were too damn proud to cover this crap up," she growls, waving her Offland Barcode Tattoo. "I have seen friends die for no other reason than that they were born the same as I was."

  She reaches Dorian and squares up to him, tilting her head upward to look him in the eye. "You? You are nothing like me. You are nothing like my people. You are nothing more than ..."

  Dorian throws a punch and Fahrn hits the ground with an audible thud, her microphone flying across the Battle Zone as the arena staff start to swarm towards the two competitors. Dorian turns to Tanya and takes a step towards her, but Fahrn launches herself from the floor and takes him down, raising her fist to strike just as the staff reach them and try to pull them apart, the crowd going nuts.

  "You could see it comin' Dirk. After what jus' happened with Laqueta, Fahrn weren't any happier about all this than the rest of us. An' there she goes again, forcin' through the staff to get to Dorian."

  "And again, they pull them apart. They're just trying to get them away from each other and ..." Dirk trails off.

  "An update?"

  "Not yet. We're being told to close this one up."

  "Figures, huh Dirk?"

  "You can say that again. Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll be back later with ... who knows what. I'm Dirk Wylder."

  "Yeah. Sam North."

  The screen fades to black just as Dorian and Fahrn pull free again and rush towards each other, the crowd shouting Fahrn's name.

  LANA DE LA CRUZ - 13:37

  OK Lana, calm down. If Dorian is just heading out, then that means that Fahrn is being kept on the field. So now I just have to deal with Hong Chan. Well, and Slade I suppose. Speaking of which. "Ya know," I say, still struggling to catch my breath, "If you ever fancy a change in career, long distance sprinting might be a good way to go."

  Slade laughs. "I think this may be the best thing for her. Cutting straight to the confrontation with Dorian will give her something to focus on until the Surge dies down. Did you have any luck finding out where they took Laqueta?"

  "Yeah, I checked with one of Med guys," I lie. "They've got her in Room A. I was just about to see if I could catch her before the ambulance gets here. Did you find out where they're gonna take Fahrn?"

  He nods. "Room C."

  "Alright," I reply, turning towards the first of the backstage rooms. "I'm guessing you'll want to wait there. Shall we meet back here before the tag match?"

  "A sound plan indeed," he bellows, then lets his voice drop as he finishes, "I hope the child is OK," and turns to walk towards the room at the opposite end of the hallway.

  It was my idea to keep Meera and Fahrn in these rooms. I wanted to keep as much distance as possible between them should they both end up back here. The plan had been to deal with Meera quickly and pass the message onto Fahrn that she was on her way to the hospital. Having them bring Dorian out actually buys us some more time, so well done Sean for that decision.

  "With luck," I mumble, pushing the door to Room A open and stepping in, "it'll already be ..."

  I pause. Hang on, I've got that goofy confused look on again, I can feel it in my cheeks. Stupid surprise-reflex. Turn, shut the door, regain composure, turn back and pretend no-one saw that last face. "OK," I say, mustering a cocktail of authority and annoyance. "Would someone like to tell me what's wrong with this picture?"

  "Oh, there's a lot wrong with this," growls ... someone as she pulls her arm free from one of the fake Medical Team members.

  Let's see ... muscular legs, loose work shirt over jeans, short, shaggy hair ... nope, doesn't ring a bell. "And you are?"

  "That doesn't matter," she snaps.

  "Maria Grace," splutters Hong Chan from somewhere underneath her. "Fahrn's partner."

  Maria turns back to the pinned man and shoots him a look that could kill puppies. "How much did you see?" I sigh, stepping past some sort of scared looking statue that I'm sure was a man when I hired it.

  Maria stares at Hong Chan for a moment, then stands up and says, "Enough."

  Well that was eerily calm. I walk across the room to the disabled Data Wick and run a manual reboot, loading up a still of an unconscious Meera. From Hong Chan's shiver and the sudden tensing of Maria's shoulders and fists, that may have been a mistake. Unfortunately, it's also a necessity. "The ambulance will be arriving soon," I say, looking over my shoulder to the least shaken of the hired hands. "Take her out the back and load her up. They'll do the rest."

  With some nodding and grunting, the small team manage that with a degree of efficiency. Or a nervous urgency at least. "The ambulance is fake too," I say to Maria. No sense in lying about that now. "Though they'll never know that at the hospital. After the drop off, it'll go out on an emergency call and disappear."

  "But they'll know when they examine Meera's body," Maria replies, her eyes narrowing. "Or are you using fake Doctors there too?"

  I shake my head. "No, it'll be real Doctor's that examine her, and no they won't know that the Meera competing here was a Spark Form."

  "Yeah, sure," she says, her voice taking on a mocking tone. Under the circumstances, I'll forgive that. "Until she ... it. Until it glitches again."

  "That won't be a problem," Hong Chan replies, sitting up and turning towards me. "You've taken her out of storage, haven't you?"

  I nod, almost letting my near-detachment slip against his defeated tone.

  "Storage?" Maria asks, and for a moment neither Hong Chan or myself answer. Finally, I decide that Hong Chan, despite technically being the one that should answer, clearly isn't going to.

  "Meera Thorne died around a year ago. We had her body frozen so that we could tie up the loose ends after the tournament. Once the Data Wick makes it into the ambulance, it'll be shut down permanently. The real body should already be in there."

  Maria wobbles slightly, then drops onto all fours and slams her fist against the floor in anger. With her head hung low, a couple of tears fall to the floor, breaking the silence before she responds, "How did she die?"

  "The Judge," says Hong Chan, sadly. "It's a drug that some of the CL-Five Dockers have been giving to Offlanders. It ..."

  "I know what it is," she growls. "They target the homeless that come in, especially the young ones that won't know the risks." Maria sits up onto her knees and asks, "Why should I believe you?" Hong Chan tries to hold her gaze, but soon looks away and gets to his feet, slumping into a chair at the back of the room, his face in his hands as he sobs quietly. The tears well up in Maria's eyes again, but she holds them back, simply replying with a cold, "It's a shitty way to go."

  Really I should only have been dealing with Hong Chan right now. Those idiots I hired were meant to keep everyone not involved with the project out until they'd already started transporting Meera's Wick. Clearly, they didn't do that. Still, what was it that Robert used to say? 'The DotS Virus was so good because it adapted to its host. It focused on its purpose and worked it into whatever it happened to have infected. Treat each situation the same way Lana, especially the project. We are the virus and this room is the host. The program is the host. The world is the host.' I wonder if John knows that Robert created DotS?

  No, don't get distracted. Adapt.

  I walk over to the door and slide the small bolt across, then walk back over towards Hong Chan and set up two chairs a couple of meters from him. He needs some space or he wouldn't have taken himself off to the back of the room, but shutting him out would be stupid given I still have to get him ready for John and Carnival. "You can leave any time," I say to Maria as I sit down, "I just don't want anyone else barging in."

  Maria nods and pushes herself to her feet, wiping her eyes as she walks over to the chair opposite me. "Why?" She asks, studying me. "Why Meera?"

&nb
sp; "We needed him," I reply, nodding to Hong Chan, "and he wouldn't come without her. After she died, this was the only way to keep to that stipulation."

  "And why was he so important that you'd ..." She trails off and swallows back some more anger. "Why him? What is this all about?"

  I sigh. "I can't tell you what our aim is other than that we want to retrieve something that belongs to my employer. We needed him because his abilities fit in with that."

  "What are you trying to retrieve?"

  "I can't tell you that."

  "Yes, you can."

  "No, I can't Maria."

  "Yes, you can, because I need to know what's so damn important that you'd put Fahrn through all of this."

  "That wasn't my choice," I reply, taking a gamble on deflecting her questions towards Hong Chan. If he opens up a little, that should give me a way in to explain why I shut Meera down early. It may also speed him through the initial run of emotions. Kind of like a simulated Surge. "I had no part in what Meera was used for, other than to assist with the programming."

  "Fine," she says, turning to my suddenly alert accomplice. "Why the lies? How much of what you told Fahrn was crap?"

  "I didn't lie," he says, sounding slightly more offended than he probably realises.

  "Of course you didn't," Maria counters with a sneer.

  "I didn't lie," he says again, his panic overtaking his attempt at authority. "Everything I told Fahrn was true. I just ... she died a week after the adoption went through. Even after all I did for her, I still couldn't save her. I had to sit there and watch her die, slowly, suffering to the very last second, and there was nothing I could do. There was nothing I could do."

  "Then why put Fahrn through all this?"

  "Because that's what she wanted," he says, his voice reaching a strained shout.

  "Excuse me?" Maria replies, taken aback.

  "She was desperate to meet her and talk to her, but it wasn't just to fix herself. She wanted to be sure that Fahrn was OK too, that she wasn't as mixed up as she was about the Halo. I think that ... maybe part of her did remember her time with you. I don't know, maybe. But she wanted it. She wanted to get well and to make sure that Fahrn was OK. When she died, she ... she was more concerned about Fahrn than herself. I think facing death was a relief for her. It was closure. She didn't know if Fahrn had that." He pauses and takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets go. "Are you religious?" He asks, looking hopeful.

  "What has that got to do with anything?" Maria replies, angrily.

  "Please, it's important."

  "I've seen how people treat Fahrn and her people," she spits. "I've seen how they treat me for loving her. If Gods exist, they're either uncaring or powerless. So no, I'm not fucking religious."

  "I am," he says plainly. "Knowing how much she wanted this, both for herself and Fahrn ... I wanted to make sure that her soul could rest in pace. She deserved that much at least."

  Maria stands up and looks down at Hong Chan. I see what's coming before he does, and so he takes a hard slap across his face. "You idiot," she rasps. "Did you have no concept of how this could have affected Fahrn? For all you knew, this could have pushed her over the edge. We spent years trying to heal those scars. Years. Then you came along with your little toy and opened them all up again. If I wasn't certain that all of this had done her some good, I'd ... damn it. Do you even realise what this could do to her when I tell her?"

  Time to step in I think. "But do you really need to tell her?" I interject.

  "Yes, I do," she snaps, reeling on me. "And don't try to play innocent, you had a part in this too. I can leave at any time, remember? What's to stop me going out there right now and telling everyone what's been going on?"

  I sit back into my chair and calmly cross my arms. "Meera died in our in-house medical facility. Do you know how long The Judge takes to finally disappear after death? Three weeks. We had plenty of time to realise what Hong Chan wanted and freeze the body. Any Doctor that examines her will find traces of The Judge and confirm that as the cause of death. So tell me this. Who would believe you if you did tell them?"

  "Fahrn," she replies defiantly. "Fahrn would believe me."

  "I don't doubt it. But didn't you say that all of this did her some good? Do you really want to risk undoing that?"

  Maria blinks. The pause is a good sign I decide. Finally, she says, "She deserves the truth."

  "Deserves it, yes. But does she need it? Look, if things had gone how we wanted, the result would still have been the same for us. The only differences would have been that the Meera you met would have died after the tournament and you would never have known what she was. We only sped up the process because the risk of her glitching in front of the cameras was higher than we anticipated. That and Hong Chan was getting too attached. And don't try to argue that," I say, turning back to him. "You know you were beginning to view her as the real Meera. You knew what she was and you still reacted like this, that's proof enough of that."

  Maria hasn't responded, so I turn back to her, in part to keep my push going and in part to make sure that she hasn't snuck out while my back was turned. Or head, technically, not back. That she's still here and still silent is a good sign. She's headstrong though, and her focus is on what's best for Fahrn. Even then though, the more she runs it through her head, the more confused she's getting. Leaving the ball in her court may be the best way forward.

  I smile gently and look her in the eyes, keeping my voice soft. "Look. For what it's worth I would have preferred to not drag anyone else into this. If we didn't need Hong Chan so much, we wouldn't have gone ahead the way we did. Yes, you're right that Fahrn deserves to know what's going on, and of course I'm going to argue against you telling her just that because it'll be a hassle for me. Right now though, the way you're reacting is because of the shock of what you've just seen and what you now know. The anger, the sorrow, the confusion ... it's like a post-match Surge. You've seen those, right?"

  She nods and turns her head, staring blankly at the wall across from us.

  "You need to do what's best for you and Fahrn, I get that. But is this what's best, or is it just your body reacting to the shock? I'm guessing that you won't actually want to tackle this with Fahrn until you're sure that her Surge has died down, right? That way you know that she'll have a far better chance of dealing with it appropriately. Knowing that gives you some time. Try to think things through. Consider what's more important right now. Does telling her the truth risk ruining the progress that she's made? How will you deal with that? Will she recover from that or will it make things worse in the long run? How important is the truth right now?"

  I stand up and Maria turns her head to face me. Judging by her face, I may yet win this round.

  "Don't make a rash decision that you live to regret Maria. Think it through. If after that you honestly believe that telling Fahrn is the best thing to do, then come to me and I will personally explain everything to her, you have my word on that." That was close, I almost used the word 'right' instead of 'best'. Good save Lana.

  I walk calmly past her and signal Hong Chan to follow as I unlock the door, intentionally making sure the clunk of the lock sliding open is audible. "Let me know, OK?"

  Maria looks over her shoulder to me and gives a slight nod, completely ignoring Hong Chan. I nod back, and we leave her to her thoughts.

  JOHN FORRESTER - 13:57

  Tap. Tap-Tap. Drum fingers. Sigh. Tap.

  It took me a while to pick up on the pattern, but I'm pretty sure that Carnival's checking her inbox every minute now. Or around that. Even with my back to her while I work on my sandwich-based-masterpiece-of-non-animal-goodness, I can hear it clearly enough, mostly because the longer she waits, the harder she seems to be hitting the screen.

  Will she break it or will something in her Wick prevent her from doing that much damage I wonder? Either way, she's been doing it since Meera was ... whatever happened to her. Is she a her though? I mean, if I hadn't touched her, I would ne
ver have known that she wasn't a scared first timer. Sure, she was awkward, but it was an authentic awkwardness. Lana views her as a tool though, like Finn.

  No actually, that's not right. She has an affection for Finn, I could tell. She created him, he views himself as artificial, but the way she interacts with him isn't the same as when she spoke about Meera. She was near enough dismissive with Meera.

  Tap. Tap-Tap. Drum fingers. Sigh. Tap.

  But I didn't see Lana and Meera interact directly. Maybe she behaves differently when she's in the same room as her? If she does, then that may be a problem. Carnival's anxious because she knows that Lana created Meera, and seeing her collapse opens the possibility that Lana orchestrated it. If she did, then that could be an indication that she'll back out on the deal. I'm pretty certain that's what's eating her anyway. Why else would she be checking for messages so often?

  Paranoia isn't one of her usual traits, or not one that she shows me anyway, but I can understand it well enough. If Lana did set this up as a way to finish up Meera's work, then it could be that she's completely detached from most SSFs. All of them if I've misread her and Finn. Which would mean that she may just spring something on us instead of going through with whatever she agreed with Carnival this morning.

  But then, that theory hinges on two things. The first being that Meera was shut down and the second being that it was done with malicious intent. Or a lack of emotion. It could be a built in failsafe that just activated due to ... I dunno ... a problem with the Spinal Implant Cables. It could be part of the overall plan, modified as a result of Carnival and Lana's chat. Or it could have been part of the plan from the get-go.

  Assuming that it does hit both those things, that's still not necessarily a reason to panic.

  Tap. Tap-Tap. Drum fingers. Sigh. Tap.