Reclamation

When you can't go back, you must go forward. Aria shuffled forward and peered into the gaudy twilight, trying to find a sign or a monument she recognized. If you can tell which is which.

The comm console loomed across her path. Aria teetered up to it and rested her weight against its smooth side. She stared at the blank screen and gently lit keyboard.

Aria's hand trembled as she reached for the keys. She'd seen a lab assistant use one of these when he was going out for the evening. He'd called up the public system with a special nonsecured code…

I know the code, I know the code. But it would not come to the front of her mind where she needed it.

Oh, blast. Her hand dug into her pouch and closed around the smooth skin of the stone.

The boundaries of her memory burst with a rush of sensation that left her knees weak. She knew the code in an instant. She clung to the stone, savoring the freedom, and it was only with a wrenching effort that she made herself let go.

It felt like a massive hand pressed against her mind, squashing all her thoughts flat. She blinked stupidly at her fingers and wondered what they were for. The pillar squeaked against her skin as she slid closer to the ground. The hand pressed harder. Exhaustion helped it. Her fingers flexed idly, and she remembered. Slowly, one key at a time, she typed the code in.

The black screen brightened and showed a man with clear eyes and an angled jaw. "This is a special notice for all voting members of the First Families. Report to your section hall immediately for a special vote."

What does it mean? She wondered. The hand was reluctantly lifting away, sparing her room to think, and just enough strength to straighten up again.

The man's face faded away, leaving Aria staring at a black screen again. She hadn't done enough. Her hand dropped to her pouch and her head started to swim.

No. She gritted her teeth. Not again. I won't have any strength left. Hunger began to gnaw at her. She struggled with her unaided memory. Her fingers clutched the leather pouch and squeezed until her fingernails began to bend. With her free hand she touched the keys. Nothing happened. She tried a new sequence.

This time the screen lit up with the stylized lines and patterns that made up the city map. A crooked red line worked its way from where she stood to Perivar's home. She found a key marked PRINT. A paper copy of the map slid out from the slot above the board.

For the briefest moment, Aria wished she was in Narroways. No one could have followed her there, never mind found her. She knew the alleys and the catwalks better than the rats. The Notouch would have sheltered her without question and given her any help she needed, knowing she would do the same for them one day. She would have had no fear of spies or betrayal, and if the night was cold and unpredictable, at least she could breathe the air and keep her balance as she ran through the streets. She could have told her direction by the placement of the walls and wouldn't have needed to hunt around for street markers and struggle over their meanings.

Iyal had been wrong about that much. She couldn't read very well. She just looked and saw and let the stones sort it out for her later. Except now there was no time for that.

With the map gripped in her fingers, Aria staggered forward.

Back home, the children swarmed all over Kiv, demanding the news. He deposited Ere in their midst to let her relay it.

"Perivar?" he tapped his translator. "I need to open the housing."

"Sure, fine, go ahead." The tone of the live voice under the translation was furious.

Kiv slid the housing back. On the other side, Perivar paced back and forth, kicking his chair when it rolled in his path.

Kiv retracted his neck at the sight. "What's happened?"

"The Vitae have gone gods-high crazy, that's what's happened!" Perivar kicked the chair. It ricocheted off the map table and toppled over, its wheels trying helplessly to get purchase on thin air. "They've kidnapped Eric Born!"

"What?" Kiv all but pressed his snout against the membrane.

"I just got a message from Dorias…from an AI Dorias created…" He stopped and knotted his fingers in his hair. "They didn't even arrest him; they just took him. And now I got word from Iyal they want Aria Stone, too…what is with them?"

"I don't know," said Kiv. "They just tried to bribe me to deliver Aria Stone to them if she ends up back here."

Perivar froze. "What did you tell them?" he croaked at last.

"There was not much I could say." Kiv related what had happened at the Embassy. At his knees, he could hear Ere giving the same story to her siblings, almost syllable for syllable. Kiv dropped a hand onto the back of Ere's neck. "Into the other room, all of you. I'll be in in a moment."