Page 34 of The Fall

Unsheathing one of her knives, Kerr flipped it in the air, trying to catch it. The clang on the asphalt broke the quiet. Somewhere in the distance, a gull squawked, but otherwise, no-one had witnessed her fumble. Lusa made it look effortless. Surely, she could do the same with some practice.

“Stupid Lusa,” she mumbled. Voicing what she was supposed to feel didn’t work either. By rights, she should hate her. She had to hate her. Kerr flexed her composite fingers, but the anger felt manufactured. Lusa-the-person was much nicer than Lusa-the-myth. Standoffish, but no more than reasonable, all things considered.

Redirecting her grievances, Chalice was the one to blame. She brought them here. They didn’t need Model 2. If they laid low, let everyone else fight it out, they could swoop in and take the scraps. That’s what the Adlets were doing, wasn’t it? The only difference between them was their tech.

Kerr threw the knife at the dirt. It ricocheted instead of sticking. If her and Chalice had lived anywhere else in any other timeline, they would never have had to speak with one another again. But here and now? With aging machinery, a rapidly dwindling population, and an even more rapidly dwindling group of competent people? You needed everyone you could get. You repressed your feelings or you died. Or everybody died.

Kerr shoved herself off of the bike and bent over to retrieve the knife. Standing upright, she caught sight of Lusa, striding toward her with purpose. The front doors to the Model 2 installation sealing shut behind her with an audible hiss.

“You came out the front?”

“She opened them for me.” Lusa threw the cylinder at her feet.

Kerr rushed to scoop it up. “Careful! You’ll break it!”

“It’s already broken.” Lusa pointed at the bricked cylinder. “She dissolved the insides before I’d entered the chamber.”

Kerr threw her head back. “Pure hell.” They now had a useless hostage with time running out and they’d pissed off the Adlets for no discernible gain. “What now?”

“You’re asking me?” Lusa sounded exasperated, for which Kerr couldn’t fault her. “I did what you wanted. Now I need Pinga back.”

Kerr blew out her cheeks. The thought of heading back to Chalice and being berated for things beyond her control didn’t appeal to her. She wasn’t certain Chalice would release Pinga if she didn’t get what she wanted. More likely, she would hold on to her rather than admit she’d fucked up.

“Look,” Lusa straightened her spine and took a deep breath. The way it made her chest stick out made Kerr’s ears turn bright red. She averted her gaze before Lusa caught her staring. “I did what you wanted but your tech failed. She’s no use to you anymore. And if I don’t get Pinga back in the next few days, you’ll be dealing with the rest of the Adlets.” Lusa took her knife belt back, lacing it across her hips. She eyed the knife Kerr had been playing with, still in her hand. There was a hint of a smirk. “I’m not sure why you thought this would work.”

Kerr held out the knife and turned her head, hoping that Lusa would be too distracted by it to see the tears start forming. It didn’t work.

“Are you?” Lusa narrowed her eyes “Are you okay?”

“What do you care?” she spat.

Lusa sighed. “Because I’m not an arsehole.” She re-sheathed her knife, but kept her distance.

Kerr only glared angrily, like a wounded animal.

Lusa stared off toward the inner city, not the old part of Tyton where Chalice was holed up. “Even if your plan worked and I got Pinga right now, we’d have to lay low for a few days and wait for pickup.”

Kerr eyed her sceptically. “A couple days? Did the Adlets move cities? Is that why you disappeared?”

Lusa’s stance deflated. “Stop. I’m not doing this right now.”

Kerr supposed she deserved that.

Lusa put on her jacket, much to Kerr’s relief. She was running out of excuses for why she kept staring at her arms.

“Figure out what’s happening and I’ll come back for her in the morning.” Lusa grabbed her helmet and adjusted the straps. “She hates camping anyway.”

Lusa slotted the keycard. The bike’s supercharger whined.

Kerr suddenly had an idea. “Wait.” She held out her hand, as though she would be able to keep the bike from speeding off.

Lusa took her feet off the pegs. “What?”

What indeed. The word had left Kerr’s mouth before she’d had a chance to really think this through. All she knew was that she didn’t want to return to Chalice without Model 2 or Lusa. “What if I show you around?”

Lusa narrowed her eyes. “So, you can take me somewhere isolated and kill me? You hate me, remember?”

“Well, yeah.” Kerr shrugged with her whole body. “I mean, no. Here’s already isolated. And you hate me too.”