Chapter 41: New Dawn
In a city recovering from chaos, Omni grapples with loss, family secrets, and the bonds that tie friends together amidst uncertainty.
She sought a spot in the open, under the stars, just to feel a bit of solitude, to spend some time with herself and her thoughts. She found the balcony, looked up at the stars, and down at the city, where the neon glow blotted out the heavens.
Yet, she could still see the blacked-out ring marking the area of Murph’s chaos around the Company’s Blackwater site. Rubble and debris littered the site, as she’d seen in the clipped news report. Rebuilding operations had started immediately, of course. Resources diverted away from the needy to ensure the operation of the city, as Herman Shaw had said. She felt as if he’d stared out directly at her.
Rescue drones, she knew, were crawling through the rubble, trying to find survivors. She wondered if Murph was one of those survivors. Sitting there, lost in thought, she felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched, only to see no one there.
A second later, Ada flickered into view. <Hey, Omni.>
“Hey, Ada.” Omni let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding.
< I know you want quiet. But, I still haven’t found Syn. I haven’t been able to get a hold of her or find her, and I’m a bit worried,>
Omni nodded, “I thought as much.” Her fingers found a loose thread on her pants, and she pulled at it. “Not that I know much about it, but I can imagine that breaking a bond the way Murph just did is traumatic,” the thread pulled loose easily, and she tutted her tongue when it unstitched a flap of fabric. She left it and looked up, “Especially now that they were starting to trust each other.”
< Yeah, neither of them were any good at that. >
Omni looked up at Ada, who corrected herself, <Are, neither of them are any good at trusting.>
“It must have been incredibly painful,” Omni said, meeting Ada’s eyes. “I couldn’t imagine doing it.” Ada moved closer and sat on the ledge with her, her hologram legs dangling over.
< It’s a difficult subject, especially for Djinn. Our sentience is wrapped up in the Bond; breaking it can unmake us. I’ll keep trying to find her,> Ada promised, squeezing Omni’s leg. < I’ve looked in the verse, in all the places I can think of. Satya doesn’t have a clue either, but he’s not really helping. I reckon he’s still upset I went behind his back. So… > she shrugged and let the words peter out.
Omni tilted her head. “I get that, but you saved lives, remember? He can be pissed, let him be, it’s the privilege of the living. But keep trying, okay? We need to find her. We need to try and take care of her. She and Murph saved us all.”
She looked back at the circle of darkness around the now bright reconstruction site. “And then both of them went silent.”
Omni didn’t really know what to say. She didn’t really want to talk. Ada sat silently next to her, nodding. Ada leaned into her but stayed silent. Omni felt her closeness through her implant and thought about Murph’s blackout. If they’d been caught, she wouldn’t even be able to speak to Ada until she’d had her implant replaced. Not without a terminal, like her father, she thought.
Ada pulled a face at Omni, then winked and reformed her head into her favourite childhood cartoon, making Omni laugh despite herself. Despite all her dark thoughts, she chuckled at her friend’s antics.
Her smile faded as her gaze snagged on the blackout circle, Murph’s scar. It would take weeks to replace all the components he’d fried. Street lights, cars, alarms, everything was burnt out.
“And an Override blast for the history books,” she whispered.
Ada looked up, frowning at her words. She was about to reply when Farouk dead-aired Ada, walking straight through her and standing rigidly where she had been sitting. Ada sighed and faded away. Of course, he had no idea she was there. Without an implant, he was deaf and blind to the virtual world around him, the mixed reality that Omni was born to. Unless he stuck a terminal in front of his eyes like an idiot, thought Omni with a wry smile.
“What’s up, Dad?”
Instead, he stood ramrod straight, his posture always perfect when he was angry. A military stance, Omni now realised. A measure to help control his temper. She had flashes of all the times he’d stood like that, back straight, hands clasped behind his back as he looked into the distance, reprimanding her for doing something or other. Still, her rigid father.
And she looked at him with new eyes, standing there and waiting.
He’d grabbed her the instant the trap sprung, pulled her out of the centre of violence before the first shout. He’d gotten her out and to the fringes of the conflict, like she was the target of a rescue op. Swift, clear decisions with only an earpiece. Yet, now he stood silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
She realised that her father had been keeping secrets from her, her entire life. That he had a past and a set of skills that he hadn’t wanted to use. For years, he had kept quiet. For years, hidden from her. He wasn’t just a quiet religious man. A homebody. Someone who didn’t want to necessarily be seen in public. Or out and about. No, he was something else.
He looked at her, his face stern, standing immovably while she regarded him. Without any preamble, he said, “So is this our life now?”
Omni blinked. Then she frowned and turned away from him to look at the blackout scar. His first words to her since they got out slapped her like an accusation. Judgment. Putting it on her.
She took a long, slow breath in and out. “I don’t know, Dad. I don’t know anything right now. I’m just trying to pull myself together.” She glared at him and flung up her hands, “Trying to get through whatever the hell it is we just survived.”
She gestured wildly, sitting on the edge of the balcony wall, “I’m trying to understand what just happened. How we got pulled into a trap like that,” She froze, looking down at the ground floor below. Omni felt her father’s hand let go of her shirt.
He nodded. She saw from the deep creases around his eyes, the involuntary twitch that he’d lost people before. That he’d lost team members, platoon members.
“It happens,” He spoke suddenly, his voice thick, “You lose people. Especially when you think you’ve lost them already. They come out of nowhere. Redeem themselves. And then you lose them again. And it hurts twice as bad.”
He shifted her legs to the inside of the wall, “I understand,” he paused and took his hands back, his eyes glancing down.
He nodded once to himself, his spine straightening again, before continuing, “We need to figure out if casting our lot in with these people…”
And with that, he walked away. Omni slid off the wall and stood on the floor, staring at his retreating back. She stood there in silence, chewing on his words, trying to decide what she wanted to do. Her hand fidgeted with another thread, like the question growing in her mind. She tugged at it.
She saw Zeke, glancing around, searching for her over the top of the crowd. She turned away to look out again at the nighttime cityscape. The glowing earthbound starscape screamed into the night and drowned out the real stars. The important questions pushed out by the urgent ones.
Someone came in from the side, quietly, and placed a plate of food in front of her on the wall. Then, gently, he added a knife, fork, and serviette. The oddity of this simple action made her smile and look up. The large man, with a rusty beard, put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. And gestured towards the food with his other hand.
“Sorry,” she said, pushing the food back toward him, “I’m not hungry but thank you.”
“Just try it,” he insisted, squeezing her shoulder again. She looked down at the food, and back up at his persistent smile. She chuckled and raised her hands in surrender.
“Okay, okay. Fine,” she said, grabbing the fork, “I’ll try it.” She jabbed it into the food and took a small bite, grinning back at him while she chewed.
The flavours exploded in her mouth, and she picked up the plate, taking another bite and another.
“Oh my gosh, this is so good!” she exclaimed with a full mouth.
And he beamed, a genuine, full-bodied smile, his eyes bright. The man gave her a pat on her shoulder, which she scarcely felt, and walked away. She devoured the food. After years of her dad’s serviceable but edible cooking, it was amazing. Her mouth came alive. And her senses went wild. And she grinned immediately, looking up to find him across the way.
And Vin caught her eyes. Their eyes locked. Two of them isolated, facing their own storms. In their own versions of frustration and hell. And they nodded at each other.
Omni raised her plate and smiled. Vin raised her fork and glanced down at her empty plate. For a moment, they were just two young women, stuck at a party they didn’t want to be at.
Not rivals, but possibly friends with more in common than they’d first thought. It drew out as they stared at each other.
And then it passed, Vin interrupted by someone nearby, and Omni returning to her own thoughts and food. She glanced once more at Murph’s Scar and grew determined.
“Not in vain,” she said and left the hall.”