Both the creatures at the door were level 25 Jikininki ghouls. The same type of creature as the janitor mobs on the Iron Tangle.
“It’s all they had left,” Rosetta said as she leaned against the door. She pulled a celery stalk from the bag and started munching on it. “I would’ve left them, but you said you didn’t need them to drive. They’re undead, so you might want to keep Rend away. Don’t want him taking a bite and dying.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Donut said.
[ 27 ]
A few hours later,Donut and I were yanked away to go on our live appearance of the showPlenty of Plenty.
Entering Production Facility.
We didn’t get taken into orbit. There was apop, and we were suddenly in a greenroom on the ocean’s floor. Donut landed deftly on the couch without so much as a yelp. I tried to sit next to her, but the tail on my kangaroo suit made it awkward. I stayed standing.
“Prepotente told me he hasn’t been on the show in a while,” Donut said. She moved from the couch to the counter, looking for snacks. There was nothing. “He said it was like a party. I don’t know what that means. What do you think we’re going to talk about?”
“Good question,” a familiar voice said. A thin human walked into the room.
“Lexis!” Donut exclaimed. “What’re you doing here? You don’t work here!”
The thin human with her ever-present datapad smiled as she stepped fully into the room. The human production assistant looked the same as the last time I’d seen her, which had been backstage on one of Odette’s shows.
She looked me up and down, and I could tell she was fighting to keep herself from laughing at my suit.
She composed herself. “I’m on loan to Borant since I’m stuck in system andAfter Hoursis on hiatus. It was either this or sit and twiddle my thumbs on the press barge. And with your garbage freighter having taken over everything in orbit, I say I made the right choice.”
“Wait, what?” I asked. “Also, who is listening to this?”
She continued as if I hadn’t asked. “Also, Zev is now juggling pretty much everything on her own. So, I’ve stepped in as an assistant. The insurgents aren’t letting anyone they don’t trust down here unless the AI demands it, and those thataredown here are barely functioning. So it’s all hands on deck, especially since the AI is insisting the show continue as normal. So here I am.”
“Insurgents?” I asked.
She paused, as if she didn’t want to answer, seemed to sigh, and then leaned in.
“The Open Intellect Action Network,” she said. “You know, those people you won Faction Wars with? Those insurgents. They sent a boarding crew to pretty much every major ship in orbit and took all of them. It happened very fast. ThatHomecoming Queenis decked out in enhancement-zone weaponry that actually works now that the AI has escaped containment. It’s the equivalent of a fully armored ogre fighting against blind toddlers. They achieved total system domination in a day.”
“The Open Intellect Action Network,” I repeated.
Rosetta had mentioned that they had “protective” measures in place to keep them safe while they were stuck in system, but it sounded like she was seriously underselling it.
Donut suddenly gasped. “Wait, can you tell us what’s happening on the surface? Do you know if Katia is okay?”
Lexis paused again for the briefest of moments. She pressed a few buttons.
“Okay. We have a minute. Borant doesn’t have manpower to watch the feeds anyway. Everything is in a shambles, but the AI is still likely watching. Prime Minister Victory and the staff of the new temporary headquarters for the Syndicate’s presence in the system are on the Eastern Seaboard of your North America. In theory, they can be watching, too, but I doubt it. Most of the flooding from the tsunamis has receded, and they moved into an area that they thought had minimal surviving native life, but the moment they set down, they had natives up their ass. So they’re dealing with that. Somewhere in the state of Florida. As for Katia and everyone else in South Asia, we don’t have a lot of information. That is considered OIAN territory, but last I heard, they have not taken back thekinderfacility, but they have been in contact with Katia herself. As far as I’m aware, something... strange... happened there soon after the end of Faction Wars.”
“What do you mean by ‘strange’?” I demanded.
I couldn’t read the look on Lexis’s face.Is that fear?I wasn’t sure.
“A... third party... has appeared and is protecting the facility,” she said. “But that entity is confused. That’s all I know.”
“But Katia is okay?” Donut demanded.
“I believe so, yes. Just yesterday, I saw?—”
Her pad beeped, and all the color drained from Lexis’s face. She stiffened.
No,I realized.That wasn’t fear, just before.Thisis fear.