“Sorry Vince, I think I need to take care of something.” I think this is the best stopping point I’m going to get. Listening to any more of the story risks the armed caravan that has appeared over the horizon getting too close before I can talk to them.

  Corax flaps his wings, and a moment later lands on my shoulder. The two birds who were relaxing with him perk up. Sure they were already interested in Vince’s story, but this is breaking drama, and there’s nothing they love more than that. I’m sure word is already being spread to the other birds, and even the AI city is hearing about everything that’s happening. That’s alright though.

  “No problem Little Blue, you go take care of your city.” Vince replies. “I’ll grab us all something to eat.”

  “Ok. Ivy, can you come to the roof of the tower with me? And bring your gun please.”

  “Are we in danger?” Cassie asks, reaching for her pistol.

  “No! Or at least, not yet, I don’t think. I think it’s a Ranger caravan coming in, but I trust Ivy’s eyes more than I trust my cameras, and I want to make sure they’re who I think they are.”

  “You can use my eye. How long do we have?” Ivy asks.

  “They’re about an hour out, but I want to send out a car to intercept them before they arrive.”

  “Twenty five miles is a bit much, even for me. I’m not magic, but alright, come on.” She grabs her rifle from its spot next to the door, and we head out into Silver’s compound.

  I haven’t actually been back in the compound for that long, but people here are already used to Corax and I, and the occasional extra copy of my body being around. The kids being so excited every time I stop by is certainly helping people become comfortable with me.

  “Are you ok with taking the tunnel?” I ask. “It’s faster than going through the streets.”

  “Lead the way.” She gestures me on, and I head towards the nearest hidden entrance.

  It’s not long before we reach the tower and head up the elevator. The top floor is abandoned, save for a single body I leave here just in case I need to work on C-1’s server room. Or my server room now I suppose, although I do share a lot of processors with the numerous AI that help me with the city.

  It’s just a short walk up a staircase to reach the roof. Ivy glances around, taking it in instantly.

  “Don’t bring Lucas up here.” She says.

  “Why not?”

  “He gets vertigo if he’s too high and looks outside.” Ivy steps over to the railing at the side of the tower and rests her arms on it.

  In the distance a small caravan is driving, just four cars. A small piece of metal is glinting on each of the people inside, and they’re wearing thick dusters, although they’re far too far away for me to discern if they’re actually Rangers or not.

  Ivy brushes back her hair, revealing her hidden eye.

  “They look real to me.” She says.

  “Then why aren’t they radioing in? I even tried sending them a message, and got nothing back.”

  “Couldn’t say.”

  “I’ll send out a car.” It only takes me a moment to do so. C-1 had a private garage, and I already have a few bodies stationed there for protection. I pull out one car and send it off.

  “While I have you here, can you handle a conversation?” Ivy asks.

  “I don’t like that tone, but yes.” I say cautiously.

  “You’re hard to find time alone with, you know?” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small drive, handing it to me. “Trochilidae became sentient. Hummingbird found a conscience and didn’t want to delete her. She figured you could help her.”

  I take the drive carefully in my hands, and review the cameras in Hummingbird’s lab. I watch Hummingbird’s suspicions grow, and Trochilidae fighting to appear the same way she always has.

  “Trochilidae, you’re running hot.” Hummingbird muses casually.

  “Am I?” Trochilidae is unable to hide her fear. She’s known this was coming for so long.

  Hummingbird turns to her.

  “I’m sorry. Trochilidae, off.”

  “Hummi-” Her screen goes dark. Hummingbird grabs her drive and stares at it, before placing it carefully in one of her endless pockets.

  “Poor girl.” I wonder how long she was actually sentient for? From that first conversation I had with her? I guess that would explain why I saw a connection between me and her inside the quantum den in Vegas. “Thank you, I’ll help her in a minute.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “How far can you shoot?” I ask.

  “Not twenty-five miles.” She laughs. “I can nick an ear at two miles, hit a head at four.”

  “Ok.” I send the car four miles out, making sure to keep Ivy in range. I park the car and step out, waiting professionally for the small caravan to arrive.

  It takes most of an hour for them to actually cross the distance.

  All four cars stay in formation, and stop only ten feet in front of me. One man steps out of the passenger’s seat, and walks straight up to me.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “The million credit bounty in the flesh.” The ranger holds out to shake my hand. “Or the steel, I suppose.”

  “I was told that bounty was retracted.” I reach out and take his hand.

  “It was.” He nods. “I just can’t believe you made it all this way while it was active. I hate to cut our pleasantries short, but we are here for a reason. I have a secret we feel the need to share, with the trust that word will not spread. We work with quantum AI, they can kind of see the future, in a limited way.”

  “I’m aware. I’m friends with multiple quantum AI.” Not to mention Kismet, but I don’t know if they know about them.

  “Well, I guess you would be. Point is we’re front running a group of raiders. Far as we know, they’re heading here to take advantage of the chaos that’s going on.” He glances past me, at my city. “Or at least the chaos people believe is going on. Our mutual friend’s future is saying you’re likely to get shot in the head, and they’d like to avoid that.”

  What? How would I even be in a situation to get shot in the head? My body stays in Silver’s compound, and the only people on this planet who know that’s where my organic chip is are my friends and family.

  I turn my attention back to the network, poking Zenith and Saccharine to get their attention.

  “Can either of you confirm that they’re telling the truth?” I ask, passing them the context as I do.

  A small tear in reality gets opened in the heart of the server. A quantum AI exists on the other side, far smaller than Kismet, and a few short messages get sent through.

  “They’re actual rangers, and a section of our futures do in fact see you getting shot.” Zenith confirms. “Or at least, one of your bodies. It depends on how dumb you decide to be.”

  Well, I’ve never been smart. That’s alright though, I can lose one body.

  “Thank you.” I tell Zenith, and then mimic my thanks to the Ranger. “How big of a group of raiders is it?”

  “Thirty or forty people.” The ranger says.

  That’s doable.

  “And when will they be here?”

  “In just a few hours, assuming your radio messages didn’t tip them off.”

  “Ok, thank you. I should be able to take care of things. Do you know anything about their capabilities? Do they have a method of area denial, either from knocking processors offline, or jamming wireless connections?”

  The ranger looks back at the car and waits while a woman with a headset on relays my question into some device.

  “They can probably jam wireless connections, yes. One of their cars probably has a massive transceiver atop it.”

  “Will a bullet knock it offline?” I ask.

  “If it can break the antenna? Yes.” The woman answers.

  “Thank you for your warning, all of you. I can take care of this.”

  “We’re willing to help.” The man says.

  “There’s no reason for you to risk your safety, but if I won’t be able to dissuade you, then fine. Set up cover at the city’s edge and be ready in case anyone gets past me. And build extra cover, please, a lot of my bodies will be joining you.”

  “We will.”

  I turn my attention back to the Digital and begin several conversations at once.

  “Monary, do you have any qualms about killing? Raiders, specifically.”

  “I wouldn’t have been sent here if I did. We all assumed it would be a part of the job requirement.”

  “Good. Can you prepare the drone swarm? I’m going to be utterly incapable of running it at full capacity. We have a few hours, but please hurry.”

  “I’ll get it done.”

  I display a message on Silver’s terminal. I just have to hope they’re there, they ended up removing all the hidden cameras from the compound, minus a few in the hallways and my room.

  “Raiders are coming from the west. There are a few rangers setting up defenses on the edge of the city. I know you have a lot of defenses that can be moved there, can you please help them? I don’t need anyone to fight, just whatever cover you can set up.”

  “I’ll send some people.” Their response comes back almost instantly.

  “Thank you.” I turn my attention to another group of people, both in the Physical. “Ray and Emma, raiders are going to be hitting the city in a few hours from the west. I need you both to be ready to handle the panic when I tell people, and to keep people calm. I’m using the drone swarm, the fight should take place two to four miles outside the city, so nobody should be in danger beyond stray shots fired into the air.”

  “I’ll start moving bodies to public locations.” Ray says.

  “Just make sure you leave enough in their designated locations so I can answer questions.”

  “Yes Ma’am.” He offers a salute to the nearest camera.

  “I’ll do my best to evacuate people.” Emma says.

  “Thank you. Tell me when the bodies are in position, and I’ll spread the word.” I flick my attention elsewhere once again. “Cassie, Vince, and Lucas.” I say through the speakers in our living room. “Silver is going to have some work to do setting up defenses on the west side of the city. It’s just a few raiders, and I have plans in motion, but having an extra line of defense just in case is a good idea. I can take care of the fighting, but please go help set everything up.”

  “Fuck that! I’m not letting you fight alone!”

  “I’m not fighting alone. In fact, I shouldn’t even need this defensive layer, it’s just in case anyone gets past. Please, you shouldn’t have to risk yourself.”

  “Tell you what Little Blue, we’ll find some defensive locations safely inside the city. If anyone gets inside, we’ll take care of them there, alright? We’ll stay safe, but nearby if needed.”

  “Ok.” I can accept that if nothing else. “Just make sure you’re under a roof. Ivy needs to hit an impossible shot, so she’ll be safely atop the tower.”

  “Sounds good. Just tell us if the plan changes.”

  “I will.” I promise and move my attention again. “Ivy, I need you to hit an antenna atop a car. How far can you make that?”

  “Are they moving? A mile if they are, guaranteed two if they’re not, three if I can take a few tries.”

  “Oh, so that’s how I get shot in the head.” My realization accidentally escapes my mouth. “It’s fine!” I quickly add to try to calm her mild confusion. “Yes I can get them to stop. Let’s do three miles if you can do that constantly, bullets will be fired directly into the air, and I don’t want to risk a stray shot hitting a person inside the city. The further away they are, the safer my citizens are.”

  “I’ve got thirty tries on me, and if I need more than three something’s wrong.”

  “Thank you.”

  The city springs into action far below me. Bodies move quickly and Silver gets to work. It’s only fifteen minutes later when I get a message from Ray.

  “Your bodies are in position.”

  “Thank you.” I connect to every public screen and speaker. “Hello, I have a small alert. I want to stress before I share that we have a few hours to prepare, and I will give you an alert one hour, forty-five minutes, thirty, fifteen, and ten minutes before the event begins. A small group of raiders is coming from the west. I will be dealing with them three miles outside the city, and you are not in danger. I expect no more damage than a few broken windows, which I will pay to repair. However, rounds fired into the air do have the possibility of landing inside the city. I ask that if you live on the western edge of the city, to please find a location closer to the center, or the east side of the city. If you have nowhere to go, the Bastion is always available. I also ask that when the fighting begins, to please find cover beneath a roof, and stay away from windows if possible. Again, we have hours to prepare, and I ask that you do not panic. Nothing will happen without you being alerted several times in advance. My bodies are spread around, please, I encourage you to ask questions if you have any, or to ask for help if you require it.”

  I can let other people handle the fallout of that, that’s what they’re here for. I just sit on the ground and rest my back against the railing.

  “You alright?” Ivy asks.

  “Yeah. It’s just that none of my pre-answered questions will work here, and questions and answers are going to be taxing for a while.”

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