Page 165 of Sparktopia
The big guy takes a chair to Stayn’s right and sits. “I thought you said the man was an augment?”
I shrug. “I am. But I have no idea what we’re talking about.”
“As an augment, you’ve seen this stuff. Hasn’t he, Stayn? He’s the reason I’m here. You told me he has information about this kind of thing.”
I look at Stayn again, this time with suspicion. “What the hell is all this about? You invited me under false pretenses?”
“No. Well…” Stayn smiles. “Not originally. It was payment, remember? For the disturbance in the tower.”
“Right. And now it’s what?” I’m getting a really bad feeling about this. Because while I do not know what a Looking Glass is, after what happened with Clara, I can take a good guess.
“Yes, let’s talk about that disturbance, young man.”
I direct my gaze to the older guy, then look around and realize every man in this room is watching us. Waiting for whatever comes next. Like I’ve got answers and they’re gonna get them out of me. I look back at Stayn. “What’s going on?”
“That disturbance,” Stayn says. “It was…”
“A vagrant. I told you that. There was a party down there and someone got left behind.”
“Right. Well, here’s the thing, Tyse.” Stayn actually sits on the edge of his seat, leaning towards me, like this is some kind of secret, when obviously it’s not. “After analyzing the vibrational fingerprint of said disturbance?—”
“Just spit it out, Chief!” the old man interrupts. “It matched the signature of a Spark Maiden from Dimension 702. And we weren’t expecting another delivery for three more months. So we need you to be real specific about what you found down there in the tower, son.”
I can’t even speak. I can’t even come to terms with the fact that this fucker just used the words ‘Spark Maiden,’ let alone the fact that they have… ordered one? In the past? And have one… what? On hold? For the future?
Also, in the back of my mind, I’m processing the reality that I just brought said Spark Maiden todinnerwith them.
And this is when it occurs to me that we might not actually make it out of here.
One thing. One slip-up. One little spark.
That’s all it takes.
And it’s over.
Me and Clara. The overlay, my augments, and Anneeta.
It’s all over.
A human man would panic here. Unless he was highly trained in stress warfare, he would not be able to react appropriately.
But I’m not really human. And the moment the panic begins, it also ends. Because my augments kick in. Stayn sees it. Hell, everyone sees it. Because, of course, there’s a blue light in my eyes to indicate that I’ve been turnedon.
All of them gasp, even Stayn. And then the three of us who were sitting are now standing.
“Are… you OK, Tyse?” There’s not just suspicion in Stayn’s voice now, there’s a hint of alarm.
“I thought you said he was decommissioned? What the hell is going on here?” The old man is about to overreact.
So I play it all down with a smile. “That’s a good question.” But then I look straight at Stayn. “Whatisgoing on here?”
He repeats the old man’s concern. “You…weredecommissioned, right? I mean, that’s why they discharged you, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then what is happening inside that head of yours, Tyse? Because from this side of things, you look very much like an operating augment. And you know as well as I do that all operating augments have to be registered as non-human active warfare weapons.”
I sigh, then set my drink down on a side table. I can feel the augments dial back, but they don’t completely turn off. There’s an internal overlay now with a few stats, but nothing else. I look at Stayn, then all of the men in the room. They don’t look frightened anymore, they just look like they want to lock me up somewhere in a lab and never let me see the light of day again.
