Growing pains are a necessary part of any new venture. Even after iteration upon iteration, imperfect man is still at the wheel. But if man can be made a little more perfect each time, then we will eventually become as gods.
Arnon D’Bvaym
64BIT HOPPED OFF the ATV after it rolled to a stop and rubbed his aching bottom. The mountains surrounding the valley of Fort were tall and rough, and all roads from the old world were broken—both of which meant slow, rough riding that 64Bit’s body wasn’t prepared for. After spending the day on the back of the vehicle as Kayla drove through the forest and then up a winding mountain pass, 64Bit was ready to believe he was going to be shaken into pieces. It seemed a miracle that the vehicle hadn’t blown a tire or suffered some other damage.
Standing at the top of a rise with a cliff to his right, 64Bit looked back over the valley far below. The smoke cloud over Fort had largely dissipated, and the scar where the settlement had once sat made 64Bit think of the scar left by a poorly removed wart or mole. Staring made 64Bit think of what he had destroyed, of what may never be recovered.
Westley hopped off the ATV and stood near 64Bit. The three of them had rested the night before in a bolt-hole not too far from Fort, and Westley had seemed his usual self in the morning, despite being covered in bandages and bruises. He’d done his best to fill the whole drive up the mountain with chatter, and 64Bit responded with half of his attention, as he often did with Cortex. Now, Westley looked over the rolling green carpet of the forest and turned his eyes skyward with a deep breath. “I never thought I’d leave this valley in my life, you know. All things considered, that’s one small silver lining.”
Footsteps crunched behind him. 64Bit looked back and saw Kayla walking away, farther down the wide trail. She stooped and ran her hands through the dirt, revealing a large metal spike. She glanced over her shoulder, still wearing the scowl that hadn’t left her face since she’d woken up that morning. 64Bit didn’t understand why she seemed somehow angrier than before—she’d made it clear that destroying Zed and the trunk were her top priorities, followed by avenging Fort, and at least they knew that the trunk was gone. As a street urchin, he couldn’t imagine that she had much emotional attachment to the destroyed settlement itself, but he didn’t have many other guesses. Perhaps she was still thinking of Richard. Perhaps it was her ruined eye, currently covered by a bandage wrapped around her head.
“Most likely, I’m missing data,” 64Bit muttered.
“Get over here,” Kayla called, standing and wiping her hands. 64Bit glanced back over the valley, his eyes lingering on the scar that was Fort, and then obliged, staff in hand as he followed Westley. Kayla pointed at the ground as they approached. “The road’s been spiked. We’ll need to start digging them up if we want to keep the ATV.”
“Do we have shovels?” Westley asked.
“Unless either of you are carrying one in your backpack, no,” Kayla grunted. “So use your hands, or get a rock, I don’t care. Just don’t waste time.” With that she dropped to her knees and began digging the spike out of the ground, scooping away loose, rocky dirt with her fingers.
64Bit walked past Kayla and got to work with his staff, scraping around the spike’s base to clear away dirt. It was easy to see dozens of small spikes just barely sticking out of the dirt now that he was in the middle of them, but he would have never noticed them on the road.
“Less footprints,” Westley said as he dug nearby. 64Bit nodded. The rozies that attacked Fort had left a trail through the forest that a blind man could follow without much trouble, and where the rozies followed the old-world roads it was still easy to track them for the bodies left behind. The carnage wasn’t anything compared to what had happened in Fort— 64Bit guessed that Id wanted survivors to be returned in good enough condition to become a rozie themselves—but the occasional bloodied bone, splatter of rust-colored dried blood, and rotten scent that still lingered made their direction clear.
And yet, the path nearly disappeared in the mountains. 64Bit guessed that the tougher soil may have played a part in that, but he thought it more likely that the group of rozies had split up for whatever reason.
“Perhaps there are tunnels into Id’s factory around here,” 64Bit muttered as he dug. If there were, the maps from the Binary showed no sign of them.
64Bit had been surprised how quickly Westley and Kayla had agreed to follow the Fort survivors, to see if they could be saved. 64Bit had decided that was a better way to present his plan than to say, “Please help me rescue my master so I can interrogate him on why he broke me,” even though such a motivation wasn’t all too different from Kayla’s quest for vengeance.
Even describing the likely dangers of the Blight and Id’s rozie factory had done little to dissuade them.
“I always imagined the Blight as a stinking swamp,” Westley had said.
64Bit had shook his head. “It’s a forest, like in our valley, but less dense. It’s been troubled with rozies for longer than Fort has been settled, which is why we stay away. I don’t know where the name came from.”
“We took care of ourselves in Fort. Wherever this Id is hiding, we’ll make quick work of her,” Kayla had growled, then unconsciously touched the cheek just under her eye socket.
“In Fort, we had pretty generous freedom of movement,” 64Bit had responded. “The Binary’s map of Id’s factory makes it pretty clear that Id’s rozie factory will be full of tight corridors, small rooms, and dead ends. No wide roads with ATVs to flee down. No buildings to dash through to slow down a crowd. One bad move into a room with no exit would kill us.”
And yet, for some reason, they had both insisted on leaving as soon as possible.
64Bit was brought back to the present when Kayla barked at Westley, “Stop that! We don’t need to remove all of them—just a line for the ATV to drive through.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Westley said. He shifted over a few feet and began digging at the base of a spike with a stone.
A few moments later, Kayla let out a triumphant “Hah!” and pulled up one of the spikes. Its body was half a foot, and it had a wide, flat base. She lobbed the spike to where the side of the trail hit the mountain, where it hit a boulder with a loud crack! before dropping to the dirt. 64Bit flinched at the sound and looked around, but nothing moved—not even a bird flew off. Shortly after, 64Bit had his own spike out of the ground. He carried it over and placed it on top of Kayla’s spike, then moved on to the next one.
Westley deposited his own road spike and then began working on one next to 64Bit. “Kayla hasn’t been much for conversation. Anything on your mind?”
The master immediately flew into 64Bit’s mind. He pushed that thought away and found himself thinking about Cortex— he wondered if Cortex would have been taken along with the master, or if the acolyte wouldn’t have been deemed worth the effort. He should have asked the Binary if they knew what had happened to the boy. “Just trying to keep a clear head,” 64Bit said.
Westley smiled, small lines forming around his eyes that made the smile seem warmer. “That sounds nice.”
They focused back on their work. Kayla threw another spike to the pile, creating two loud crashes as the spike hit the boulder and then landed on the pile of spikes. 64Bit glared back at Kayla, but her back was facing him. A shadow crossed him, and he looked up to see Westley behind him, still smiling.
“It’s strange that you smile so much,” 64Bit said. “Doesn’t it hurt your cheeks?”
“Hah! Well, they do get sore sometimes, but my smile muscles are well-exercised. I think that’s what gives my cheeks a little roundness to them.” Westley puffed out his cheeks in emphasis.
64Bit frowned. “You were smiling when I met you at the city hall, when we pulled you out of the rubble, and still now. Doesn’t any of this get to you?”
Westley’s smile dropped, and to 64Bit’s surprise, he became serious. 64Bit felt a little guilty as Westley started scraping at another road spike. “I do feel sad. Fort was a beautiful place. A lot of life happened there. I miss my friends, Hayvan and Drusty. And even though our relationship wasn’t great, I wish I could give my father one last hug.” Then Westley shrugged. “But, you know, we all handle things in our own way. I try to find new things to take pleasure in. I try to find new interests. Learn something I never knew about before. Give myself a reason to smile. It helps me process through things.”
Whenever 64Bit had something weighing on him, he tended to lose himself in study, trying to delve even deeper into something he already knew about. The width of experience that Westley hinted at sounded daunting.
“I . . . I hope they’re alive,” 64Bit said. “Your friends.”
Westley nodded. “Me too. If anyone got away without getting carried off by the rozies, I hope they did.” Then he smiled again. “Drusty would be jealous! He always wanted to climb these mountains. But, well, once you’re assigned to the farms you don’t have much time for anything else. Not that anyone but the scouts get to come up here, anyway. Or, that’s how it was.”
64Bit dug a little more. “So, your smile, it’s just practiced? A coping mechanism?”
Westley shook his head. “No. I do feel sad, at times. And angry, other times. But I am happy.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” 64Bit said. “You aren’t an emotion—you can choose to feel it or ignore the emotion. And it’s not healthy, psychologically speaking, to lean too much on one emotion anyway. So why should you be happy?”
Westley looked confused. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
The idea seemed strange to 64Bit. He sensed that Westley was hitting on something about identity and mindset that 64Bit didn’t quite grasp, but he wasn’t certain what he was missing. He shook his head.
“Why aren’t you happy?” Westley asked, looking concerned.
64Bit didn’t want to untangle that question, or to face the anger that he felt. “It’s—you surprised me, that’s all. I’m sorry I asked—your thoughts are your own.”
“Thoughts are for sharing,” Westley said, hands in the dirt. “Especially the ideas people think are dumb—it’s amazing how often one person’s dumb idea can be made excellent in the mind of someone else. Most of my ideas are dumb, I think, but they tend to work out when I’ve got other people to help me refine them.”
64Bit yanked a road spike out of the dirt and set it to the side. “That’s an interesting way to look at things.”
Kayla threw another spike. This time it landed directly on the pile that had built up, creating a small explosion of clanging metal. 64Bit considered telling Kayla that she was being too loud, but before the words could leave his lips, she stalked over to the pile of spikes, grabbed one, and slammed it into the ground violently, repeatedly, grunting each time the spike hit the dirt. Then she grabbed the spike’s base with both hands, lifted it high into the air, and stabbed the spike tip into the ground. She stood, trembling, arms pressing the base long after the tip had stopped sinking into the ground, all while Westley and 64Bit just stared. After a few moments she released the spike and threw her head back, breathing long and slow.
“What was that?” Westley asked.
Kayla looked at Westley, her one good eye narrowed. “My missing eye aches. I feel better now. Just had to release some steam.”
Westley shook his head. “No. You were hoping to feel some relief back at Fort, but that didn’t happen. You’re still sad, and that makes you angry.”
Kayla kicked some dirt at Westley, then looked down the trail. “We’ve done enough clearing. Let’s get moving again.” She hopped onto the ATV and began venting it as Westley and 64Bit stood and gathered up the spikes they’d set to the side.
“Any idea what that was?” Westley whispered to 64Bit.
64Bit almost laughed. “Your guess was better than mine. Emotional intelligence is not my expertise. If you have a broken arm or need to fix a machine, then I might be of some use to you.”
“Well, you know a little more about her than I do, and I saw you two talking on the roof back in Fort about something. She is angry and alone right now. We should try to help. Use your logical math brain and put some work into it. I’ll try to figure things out in my way, too.” Westley dropped off his road spikes on the pile, patted 64Bit’s back, and hopped onto the ATV.
“Let’s go,” Kayla said as 64Bit dropped his spikes and dusted off his hands. 64Bit looked at her as he turned and caught her staring up the road with a distant, sad expression. It was like the wall of anger had crumbled away for just a moment, revealing something raw.
64Bit climbed onto the back of the ATV and settled in, his buttocks already aching, but grateful to have problems other than his own to mull over for a while.
“When are we making camp?” Westley asked as Kayla started driving again.
“Sundown,” Kayla responded.
“It’s already pretty dark. Might be safer to drive with a little more light. You already take us close enough to the edge to make me nervous.”
“Feel free to get off here and catch up in the morning,” Kayla said.
Westley wrinkled his nose but said no more. The three stared forward for the rest of the drive, lost in their own thoughts.
#
AN INFERNO OF red, yellow, and purple covered the sky in a vibrant dress, stealing 64Bit’s breath away and capturing his mind for a moment. The sight of the sunrise from the very top of the mountain—64Bit knew he would never forget it. He looked down the mountain range, marveling at what looked like the spine of the world, yet also knowing that there were so many more mountain ranges out there. Below the mountains, a sea of green trees rolled off until it dissolved into some sort of grassland. The valley he’d grown up in—spent his entire life in—looked so small from a mountain’s peak.
“And yet, an even smaller area contained my entire world, for a time,” 64Bit whispered, thinking of his destroyed home. He put his palm to his heart and tried to whisper a prayer of gratitude to the Creator, but he had no words. He wasn’t certain what to do about the uncomfortable sense of distance he’d felt lately.
The mountain’s slope slowly filled out with trees and other foliage as Kayla drove downward. Under other circumstances 64Bit would have been grateful for how smooth and clear the slope was, but knowing where they were headed made the ease feel conspicuous instead. 64Bit tried to keep himself on alert, eye screens roaming the forest for rozies or any other danger.
This was the Blight. Trees, thick in some areas, patchy in others, and mountain slopes. It looked nothing like 64Bit would have imagined it, understated in a way that might have been disappointing if he didn’t know it was hiding something sinister.
64Bit was a bit disappointed in himself that he hadn’t determined the Blight held some sort of dark technomancer rozie factory until the Binary told him where the master was. With the reputation that the Blight always crawled with rozies, it only made sense. But the forest itself was quite beautiful, full of aspen trees not too closely clustered together. 64Bit might have been lulled into a false sense of security if there wasn’t also an unnatural feeling to the forest, something that raised the hair on 64Bit’s arms, made his stubbly head prickle, and gave him the sense that he was being watched.
As if to accentuate the feeling that something unnatural had settled upon the area, blanketing it like a diseased mother hen smothering her chicks, the air had an eerie quiet to it. There was no buzzing of bugs, or the natural rustle of a forest, and or even the chirps of birds that could still be heard on the relatively barren mountain tops. The only sound that broke the silence was the soft crunch of tire tread on rocky ground.
64Bit scratched the back of his neck and shivered, then looked around. He only saw Westley next to him, who gave him a half smile, and Kayla ahead, driving.
“You spot something?” Westley asked.
64Bit shook his head. “No. This place just feels . . . unnatural. It’s a sense, like when I know I put the wrong chemical proportions in a solution but haven’t discovered what exactly I did wrong yet.”
“There’s an edge to the quiet,” Westley said.
64Bit stared for a moment longer, then decided to try and scan the forest for rozies. He gripped his staff tightly, just in case, and tried to push out all sensations other than that strange pull telling him danger was in a particular direction. 64Bit frowned. He had a sense that something was there, hidden from his senses, but not particularly well. He pushed a little harder—
Sensation nearly knocked 64Bit off the ATV. He felt as though the ground were boiling, as if a thousand writhing corpses were reaching out of the ground with decaying fingers, looking to grab him and the ATV, to pull them down into the depths of a horrible crypt where the corpse-queen waited, sitting on a throne with no foundation . . .
Copyright © 2023 by David Ludlow
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