“Because that child’s memory is disappearing.”
As soon as the central figure finished speaking, the crack in A-08 inside the crystal spread a little farther.
The red light began as a hairline fracture, then climbed past the child’s shoulder and neck to the place where a face should have been. Each time the crack spread, tiny shards of light broke away and fell.
Aaron did not move immediately, even after seeing it.
When you were unable to move, rushing usually meant charging in the direction someone else had chosen for you.
“How much time is left?”
“For what?”
“Until that memory disappears completely.”
The central figure smiled with Aaron’s face.
“You still ask that question first.”
“If I don’t know how much time we have, I can’t decide whether to hurry.”
Ria came up beside Aaron. Her pants were torn where the metal ring had gripped her ankle, but her steps remained steady.
“Give me an exact figure.”
“External signal retention: forty-one percent.”
“In time.”
“At the current rate of decline, six hours.”
Aaron checked the pressure gauge on the wall.
He had no exact way to tell how long it had been since they entered the underground facility. The pain in his palm and the confusion in his memories had blurred his sense of time.
Even so, six hours was not long.
They had to escape the underground institute and make their way to the lower levels. They did not know A-08’s exact location, or what was waiting there.
“Show me the location.”
Instead of answering, the central figure raised a hand.
The outline of Velcarium appeared inside the enormous crystal. The spires of the upper levels, the research districts of the middle levels, and the factory pipes filling the lower levels were connected by blue lines.
A single red dot blinked in the western lower levels.
The Scrap Engine District.
It was where the city’s oldest steam pipes and discarded equipment were collected. Even when he worked at the repair shop, he had gone down there several times to find parts.
It was more often called “Rust Valley” than by its official address.
“Can we record that location?”
Ria asked.
“Taking it outside is prohibited.”
“You want us to find someone, but you won’t give us the location?”
“The recovery target is A-07. A-08 is merely a memory linked to the target.”
There was no trace in the central figure’s tone that it regarded people as people.
That, at least, was familiar to Aaron.
The institute called contract workers by their job numbers before their names. The scale and methods were different, but the principle was the same: classify everything according to its usefulness.
“Then it won’t matter if that memory disappears.”
“The comparison rate will decrease.”
“You mean it’s a loss you need?”
The central figure closed its mouth.
Aaron noted the silence and continued.
“You need A-08 to complete me.”
“More precisely, you need the memory linked to the target.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It is not.”
“Are you talking about the difference between a living person and a memory?”
This time, the answer took even longer.
Ria shot Aaron a sidelong glance.
“You’re going to keep asking questions until you tangle up the procedure, aren’t you?”
“It worked once already.”
“Machines prepare for that after the first time, too.”
“They’re faster than people.”
The central figure’s expression hardened.
Watching its reaction, Aaron became certain of one thing.
That thing was not a simple automatic device.
It thought using fragments of his memories, and it could even feel displeasure. That made it harder to handle than a machine that merely followed orders, but it also meant they could negotiate with it.
A being with desires was like a machine with a handle.
All you had to do was find the right place to grab.
“Let’s make a deal.”
Ria immediately cut in.
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard the terms.”
“There aren’t any good terms this facility could offer.”
The central figure smiled.
“Ria has plenty of experience.”
“Shut up.”
“As an assistant administrator for memory seals—”
“Aaron.”
Ria covered the central figure’s words.
“If you make a promise to that thing, it gets to define what the promise means, too. Choose one sentence wrong, and you’ll never get out for the rest of your life.”
Aaron looked at the bandage where blood had begun to seep through.
“If we can’t get out of here, we won’t need to worry about the rest of our lives.”
Ria fell silent.
It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t something she could like hearing.
Aaron looked at the central figure.
“Send us back to the surface and provide A-08’s coordinates.”
“And the price?”
“I’ll verify the signal in the lower levels.”
“That’s what you want.”
“You want the result, too.”
“I want you to come back.”
The central figure spoke with Aaron’s face.
“Complete.”
The sentence was strangely gentle.
Aaron did not look away from his own face imitating tenderness.
“Who decides what counts as complete?”
“I do.”
“Then this deal will be difficult.”
Aaron made a show of turning away.
The exit was blocked by crystal. There was nowhere else to go.
Even so, when he showed his back to the central figure, it moved a finger.
One of the crystals covering the wall stopped.
He had found the handle to grab.
“State your terms.”
“Even if we find A-08 in the lower levels, we won’t take the child by force.”
“The memory linked to the target must be recovered.”
“If it’s a person, we ask for their choice.”
“And if it’s a memory?”
“We confirm that, too, and then decide.”
The blue light in the central figure’s eyes deepened.
“You already left it behind once.”
Aaron’s chest tightened for an instant.
There was no face or name in his mind. But the words left behind struck him like a blade.
He did not know whether the younger version of himself had let go of A-08’s hand, or whether he had been forced to.
Aaron recalled the sensation of the small hand gripping his wrist.
“That’s why I’m saying we’ll ask this time.”
The central figure stared at him for a while.
Ria grabbed Aaron’s sleeve.
“Don’t make a deal out of guilt.”
“It isn’t only because of guilt.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s a memory I lost.”
Aaron paused and amended his words.
“And if that child is alive, then they’re someone I shouldn’t call my memory.”
The strength in Ria’s hand slackened slightly.
M-03’s glass eyes glowed faintly.
“Statement verification.”
It was Yohan’s voice.
“Target A-07 will first verify whether A-08 possesses a personality.”
The central figure glared at M-03.
“Administrator remnants possess no mediation authority.”
“I retain authority to record negotiations.”
M-03 answered.
“You failed to delete it three years ago.”
The interior of the crystal gave a low hum.
Aaron was slightly pleased to learn that the two entities disliked each other. Two enemies keeping each other in check were easier to use than two allies on the same side.
“I’m adding another condition.”
The central figure spoke.
“You will make contact with A-08’s signal source within twelve hours.”
“You just said six hours.”
“Memory retention lasts six hours. The residual core can be recovered for twelve.”
“And after that?”
“External signals can no longer be tracked.”
Six hours during which the child might remain a person.
Twelve hours during which something, anything, might still be recovered.
It was an ugly difference.
“Another condition?”
“You will transmit the results of the contact to this facility.”
Ria shook her head.
“You mean you’re going to implant a connection device in our bodies.”
“A connection marker is required to take the coordinates outside.”
“Is there another way?”
“No.”
Aaron did not take the central figure’s answer at face value.
When a machine said there was no other way, it often meant the option was not among the choices it was permitted to offer, not that it truly did not exist.
“Can the marker be removed?”
“After the objective is complete.”
“Who decides when it’s complete?”
“An agreement between Target A-07 and administrator authority.”
M-03 raised its head.
“I possess partial administrator authority.”
The corners of the central figure’s mouth turned down.
Aaron organized the terms in his mind.
The marker was dangerous. It could leak their location and physical responses, perhaps even their memories, into the facility.
But searching the entire lower levels without coordinates was impossible.
They had to find one person within six hours.
There were not many options.
“Limit the range of information the marker transmits.”
“Location and target response values.”
“Exclude memories and audio.”
“They are necessary to assess the target’s response.”
“M-03 will make the assessment.”
The central figure fell silent.
Yohan’s voice answered in its place.
“Possible.”
“Yohan.”
“Possible even under your procedural standards.”
M-03’s voice remained calm.
“If you refuse, the reason for the breakdown in negotiations will be recorded against you.”
The light of the enormous crystal flickered several times.
At last, the central figure lowered its hand.
“Approved.”
A thin piece of metal slid out of the wall.
A blue crystal no bigger than a fingernail was embedded in it.
Ria snatched it up and examined it first.
“It’s meant to go under the skin.”
“Is it safe?”
“Think about how many times anything here has been right when it said something was safe.”
“Never.”
“But we still have to do it, right?”
Aaron did not answer.
Ria took his silence as consent. She pulled a small knife and tweezers from her tool pouch.
“Where do I put it?”
“On the wrist without a wound.”
“Why the wrist?”
“So it’s easy to remove.”
The central figure spoke.
“Do not install it on the assumption that it will be removed.”
Ria gave a cold laugh.
“That’s exactly why I’m putting it in the wrist.”
The knife’s tip sliced shallowly into his skin.
Aaron clenched his teeth.
Compared with the burn on his palm, it was a minor pain. But the instant the blue crystal slid beneath his skin, a cold sensation traveled up his arm to his heart.
A map of Velcarium’s lower levels overlaid one side of his vision.
The red dot blinked.
At the same time, numbers appeared.
05:57:31.
Estimated memory retention time.
“Can you see it?”
Ria asked.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The coordinates and the time remaining.”
“Anything else?”
Aaron listened for a moment.
From far away came a sound like a child crying. It was not an actual sound, but a vibration transmitted through the marker.
“Not yet.”
He had learned not to tell Ria everything.
The central figure smiled with satisfaction.
“The connection is complete.”
The crystal blocking the passage split apart to either side.
Behind it was not an elevator but a narrow maintenance conduit.
“Can this route take us to the surface?”
“It connects to the lower-level exhaust ducts.”
Ria checked inside the conduit.
“It doesn’t lead to the surface. It comes out beneath the institute’s outer wall.”
“What about an entry record?”
“There won’t be one.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“It’ll be a bad thing after we disappear.”
From the institute’s perspective, a contract researcher, a Senior Researcher, and a discarded automaton would all be vanishing together immediately after an accident.
Aaron had tried to avoid responsibility for the accident and added unauthorized departure to the list instead.
His career was short, but his record was filling up fast.
Ria entered the conduit first.
“Move. You said we had six hours.”
Aaron tried to follow while carrying M-03.
The central figure called out to him one last time.
“Aaron.”
He turned around.
“What if you can’t bring it back this time, either?”
“I said we’d confirm it and then decide.”
“Even if the child doesn’t want you?”
Aaron looked at A-08’s shadow inside the crystal.
Red cracks covered its entire face.
“Then that’s something I’ll have to bear.”
The central figure asked no more.
As Aaron entered the conduit, the crystal wall slowly closed.
Darkness descended.
Only the marker on his wrist glowed blue.
05:54:08.
The time remaining was shrinking.
Ria called from ahead.
“Where are the coordinates?”
“West of the Scrap Engine District.”
“That’s the area where Kaldeo Heavy Industries stores its waste.”
Aaron stopped walking.
“You mean the institute’s sponsor?”
“Yes.”
Ria’s voice dropped in the darkness.
“And the place that took possession of all the experimental equipment after the accident three years ago.”
A steam discharge echoed from the far end of the conduit.
The red dot on Aaron’s wrist flickered sharply once.
Then a new sentence appeared.
A-08 external signal movement confirmed.
The target was moving.