Page 69 of Sparktopia
Battery banks are normal. Spark is normal. Generators running full-on power three hundred and twenty-five years after being decommissioned isnot.
I look down at Anneeta and find her wide brown eyes already looking up at me. “Can you hear that?”
She nods, but doesn’t say anything.
It’s easy to see Anneeta as some kind of unfortunate accident.Poor girl,people say.She’ll never have a life outside the spark.And it is sad, so I kinda agree on this point.
But what if… what if she’snotan accident? What if there’s something going on down here we’re not aware of and she’s a part of it?
I put my hands on both of her shoulders and bend down, looking her straight in the eyes. “Anneeta, what do you know that you’re not telling me?”
She throws me that one-shoulder shrug she likes to do and averts her gaze. Which means she wants to lie, but hasn’t made up her mind yet.
“Does the god talk to you?”
She looks back at me. Sniffles. Thinks. Answers. “I told you he did.”
“A real god, Anneeta? Or… something else?”
“What else would it be?”
“I dunno. You tell me. What does this god talk about?”
“You.”
“Me?” I laugh and stand back up. “Why the hell would he be talking about me?”
Her whole face screws up, like this question has confused the fuck out of her. “Well, it’s a game, isn’t it?”
“What’s a game?”
“The Game of Gods. That what he said.”
“The god says he’s in a game?”
“No. The god saysyou’rein a game.”
“Do you know where this god is? I think we have things to discuss. Can you take me to him?”
“I can’ttakeyou to him.”
“Why not?”
“Because. He’s…” She spins in a quick circle, spreading her arms out. “He’s everywhere. All around us.”
“Well, what does he want with me?”
She stops spinning, looking a little dizzy for a moment, then laughs. “He wants you tolose, stupid.” Then she just takes off, racing down the hallway. The lights above her flashing on, illuminating her way as she runs.
I yell, my words chasing her. “How do we get to the minus 5?”
“Come on! I’ll show ya!”
Fuckin’ kid. She’s cute, I’ll give her that. But the weirdness kinda cancels it out and I’m losing interest fast. It’s hard to tellhow much time has passed since we started this journey, but it’s got to be an hour, at least. Which means it’ll take another hour to get back up from this point alone. And we haven’t even reached our destination yet.
The lights above start flickering off in rapid succession all the way down the hallway, so I have to decide what to do. I could leave Anneeta down here. I’m not worried about that. She can find her own way back, I’m sure. But I’m here. It’s got to be close now. It would be a waste to just give up and leave without getting the information I came for.
So I set off after her, the lights coming on to light my way with a kind of sluggish reluctance that I didn’t notice when I was watching Anneeta.
