Page 116 of Dustwalker

“…electromagnetic pulse that damaged the circuitry of most electronics, robots included.” That was Newton’s voice, using more terms she didn’t understand. For all she knew, he was speaking a different language.

She opened her eyes. A blank concrete wall loomed before her.

As though sensing her wakefulness, Ronin brushed his hand down her arm. “This happened everywhere?”

How long had he and Newton been talking? Lara had listened for a long time, asking questions when she couldn’t resist. Ronin was even older than he’d thought. He had existed in that long-ago, dead world, and she couldn’t help but wonder…had he cared for someone then like he cared for her now?

Even through another Blackout, I couldneverforget you, Lara Brooks.

But what if he’d forgotten someone else?

Exhaustion had eventually caught up with her, helped along by Ronin and Newton using so many complicated, unfamiliar words, so she’d lain down on one of the bunks and fallen asleep while their voices droned behind her.

“We had to assume so,” Newton replied. “Undoubtedly, Denver suffered a direct strike. And though I am loath to call anything about the situation fortunate, we benefitted from the wind carrying thefallout southward. An oddity, considering that the prevailing wind typically blew south to north at the time. Air current patterns have altered radically since then, of course, but—my apologies. I’ve a tendency to talk around my point. There were no further communications after Denver was destroyed.”

“You saidwe.” Ronin glanced at Lara as she sat up and scooted beside him. He took her hand in his, laced their fingers together, and turned his attention back to Newton.

“I was assigned to the Air Force base in Cheyenne, working with William and his son during the war. Though portions of the city, specifically those in the vicinity of the freeway, were destroyed, there are heavily fortified facilities beneath the surface that weathered the worst of it. When I left the base, there were one hundred and forty personnel, both civilian and military.”

Lara’s brow creased. “What do you mean by facilities beneath Cheyenne?”

Newton looked at her. His appearance wasn’t so strange after having seen Ronin without skin. “Not beneath Cheyenne, Miss Brooks. Beneath Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, west of the city proper.”

She raked her fingers through her loose, tangled hair, drawing it out of her face. “There are people there? Still?”

“It’s been many years since I was last there. They were somewhat limited on space, but thriving regardless.”

There were people thriving, so close to Cheyenne? That meant they had food, clean water, proper shelter…

She turned to Ronin. “Warlord must not know those people are there.”

“Warlord.” Newton curled one of his hands over the other. “I sometimes forget that’s the moniker he adopted. At the very least, he had his suspicions. He and his followers scoured the surface of the base, searching for weapons and materiel, thought there was little left after the war. They dismantled whatever they couldn’t take. Fortunately, his impatience won out long before he found a way below ground.”

Ronin’s hand tightened around Lara’s. “You know him?”

“As much as I would prefer to deny it, yes. I repaired and reactivated him. For a time, it seemed as though it would be to the benefit of many. He had such…vision. It is an uncommon trait for robots to possess in such abundance. But then, he was never like the rest of us.”

“What do you mean?” Lara asked. “You mean he was always against humans?”

“Not at all, Miss?—”

“Just Lara,” she said, hurrying to add, “please.”

“Lara, then. He took no more issue with humans than the rest of us, at least initially. I can only speculate that whatever corrupted information his data core retained through his deactivation must have driven him to the conclusion that humans were responsible for what had happened. For the war, the destruction, the mass deactivation. Therefore, he’s deemed your kind unworthy of his trust and goodwill.”

“Are there others like him out there?”

“I’ve never seen a synth like him,” Ronin said. “Bots and humans live separate in many places, sometimes with tension between them. But I’ve never been anyplace else where bots slaughtered humans the way he has.”

How many people had Warlord killed? Not just when the man in the attic had been alive, but in all the years after?

Newton’s fingers fidgeted. “To my knowledge, he is the only unit of his kind. He has a…unique means of processing that was still in an experimental phase during the war. Given more time, there would certainly have been more of his ilk. I think it is for the best, perhaps, that such research was ended.”

“Experimental phase?” Lara pulled her hand from Ronin’s and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around her legs. “Like how they changed Ronin?”

“There was nothing experimental about what was done to Ronin.”

Ronin put an arm around Lara’s shoulders and pulled her close to his side. She leaned into him, savoring the warmth he generated. Since the first time they made love, he’d been unable to keep his hands off her, as though he craved the physical contact as much as she did, whether it was holding her against him like this or simply holding her hand.