Page 56 of The Fall

“We’ll still take care of you, but you don’t get a say in how things are run.”

Voices up ahead interrupted their conversation. Kerr’s fingers wrapped around her arm and then her lips against her ear, but the words didn’t match the intimacy. “That’s Chalice’s office, but that’s not her.” She strained her hearing, but couldn’t detect Pinga either.

“Hide,” Kerr pointed to an old power converter. “Behind that.”

Lusa did as she was told, the weeping concrete moistening her back uncomfortably as she slid behind the humming machine. From this spot, she could see directly into Chalice’s office.

The steel door had been left wide open, so their conversation couldn’t be that private, could it? Two men she didn’t recognise, one with half of their jaw replaced by prosthetics and the aggro boosters corporate SecTac teams were fitted with. Thankfully, the Chem canisters were missing. The other had both arms replaced, though the right was a much newer model than the left and also several centimetres shorter. Both men wore IntelArms pistols at their hips.

Two others stood across from them – Styx, with their DocPod altered green eyes and fangs. Both armed, but they appeared to be relaxed. In the light of the room, filtering through the concrete dust and damp, she could make out Kerr crouched behind the door jamb. She must have noticed the surprise in Lusa’s eyes because she mouthed what?

Kerr had no idea that Styx were in Chalice’s office, apparently invited. Lusa attempted to communicate via a combination of hand gestures and facial expressions to no avail.

Then a fifth man spoke. He sat too far away for Lusa to see, but she recognised that voice. The same vaguely threatening voice she’d heard years ago when she and Pinga had first visited Tyton.

Cinder.

Avarice Is Overreaching

Hold on.” Kerr whispered. “I’m tapping into your monocle so I can see.”

Lusa nodded and Kerr started the connection. The resolution wasn’t as good as her Opti, but it was clear enough what was happening. Cinder was selling them out.

The smaller of the two Styx lay a pistol-shaped object on the Hexcel table. It must have been heavy, because it made a much deeper thump than its size would indicate. Cinder picked it up, turning it this way and that. He aimed it at the larger Styx, who appeared unbothered by the lack of firearms safety.

“Can you fix it?” The larger of the two Styx did the talking.

Cinder showed the pistol to the two men at his side, but didn’t let go of the gun. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s incomplete.”

“How so?” Cinder snaked his finger around the trigger.

The Styx only smiled. Cinder pointed the weapon at him and fired. Nothing happened.

“We found a cache of them. None of them work.”

Cinder didn’t ask where he’d found them. There was only one place they’d be. Model 21 specialised in arms, meaning it would have been one of NovAITech’s skunkworks. Humans would assemble the arms and test them, but no-one knew or questioned how they worked. The large model AIs engineered and built everything.

And Model 21 was gone.

“What’s it supposed to do?” Cinder brought the scope to his eye.

“The printout says it’s an energy weapon of some sort.

“And you want us to fix these for you? Just hand you arms so that you can keep killing us? How fucking stupid do you think we are?” Cinder tossed the pistol on the table where it clattered heavily.

“Oh, Cinder.” The larger Styx smiled, showing off his disturbing fangs. “No-one thinks the Chargers are stupid. We think you’re weak.”

The men at Cinder’s side clutched the handles of their pistols, but they knew better than to speak. Kerr recognised them. Servo and Cog. Fuckups that took weeks to find the Junkpile. “If we’re so weak, what does that say about you? You’ve been trying to take over for years.”

“A waste of effort.” The larger Styx straightened his TacWeave vest. “You’re dying out.”

Cinder scoffed at the nonsense. “We’re growing every day, Dimitri.”

“Only because you take in whatever skezzed out garbage shows up on your doorstep. Do you really have the resources to save all of them? How many of them survive your detox?” Dimitri stretched. He was getting bored of the verbal sparring.

As was Cinder. “What’s your actual offer?”