Page 22 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly (Tyton #1)

Callie realised she had fallen behind and raced to catch up. The brief stint of exertion left her flushed a bit more than usual and she worried that Sesi would get the wrong message. But it was the right message, wasn’t it? Her chest tingled and all she wanted to do was hide, but it was too late.

Talia was sweet. She was kind. Her attitude and confidence and swagger were fucking hot. And she was amazing in bed.

But.

Within ten minutes, Sesi made her feel like she actually wanted to know her.

Not just sex. Well, yes, sex. Please yes, sex.

But so much more. Everything fake and cheap and manufactured and manicured about this whole fucking city suddenly felt like trying on a shirt that you used to wear when you were two sizes smaller.

Like she was suffocating and she wanted to light it on fire for making her feel bad about herself.

“Tell me more about these books in your library that you insist I see,” Callie was done second-guessing herself. It was time to find out where this would lead.

Sesi half turned to look over her shoulder.

Callie thought she saw the beginnings of a smile.

“A lot of them are really old books and magazines from when they abandoned the place. Trash romance. Spec fic. Some comics. Most of the books have a lot more men in them than the stuff written now and a lot of the magazines have a lot more naked women.”

“And you like that?” Callie asked tentatively.

Sesi laughed and shook her head. “Women? Yes, for the record, I am into women.”

Callie blushed. “I meant the books, but now I’m curious about the magazines.”

“The magazines probably would have helped me out a lot more if I’d discovered them when I still lived outside the city.

” Sesi’s smirk returned. “The books are pretty sexist. And racist. It’s still interesting to see how things have changed.

I can see why everyone seems to think misogyny and racism don’t exist anymore. ”

“Sorry I called you a skrae. That’s what Sparx told me you were.” Callie wasn’t sure why she was apologising on Sparx’s behalf, but it seemed like she should.

Sesi waved her hands in a sort of vague, non-committal motion. “I doubt she even knows what that means. Anyway, I tore her a new arsehole.”

“He,” Callie corrected.

“Trying to get with Tornit, is he?” Sesi teased.

Callie shook her head. “It’s not like that. He flips every now and then. He always has.”

Sesi’s eyebrows shifted upward. “Non-binary then?”

Callie continued to shake her head. Explaining Sparx to other people was always a bit of a journey. “No, he really likes being one or the other. And not for any other reason than he needs to be who he is at that moment.”

“I can respect that,” Sesi tilted her head in concession. “How did you meet?”

“We were in the same creche.” He was my best friend. Our parents used to be friends too, so we basically grew up together.

“Used to?”

“They had a falling out when Sparx flipped for the first time. He came to live with us. They told us we were betraying feminism by encouraging him to be a boy.” Callie inspected her fingernails. “My mom thought we were all doomed anyway, so what was the point of one more potential womb?”

“And you? What do you think?” Sesi was giving her that professorial look again. “You said you didn’t want kids, but we got interrupted. How much do you care about what will happen when we’re gone?”

Callie’s shoulders twitched – almost imperceptibly. “All those disaster movies make it look like plants and animals will take over the ruined cities. I guess that’s what’s already happened to most of them.”

“If we’re lucky,” Sesi bit the inside of her lip.

Callie raised an eyebrow.

“What do you think will happen to the big AI Models when we’re gone?”

“Eventually things will break down and they’ll lose power. Or overheat,” Callie said.

“And do you think the Models know that?”

“Probably.”

Sesi considered responding, but waited to see if Callie would put it together.

Callie stared up at the thick cables running the length of the tunnels. “They’re planning a way to go on without us,” she said quietly.

Sesi nodded. “One of them is, anyway. Your Model.”

Callie frowned. “Why would it matter though? We’ll be gone.”

“We will.” Sesi admitted. “But that’s a very human way of looking at it.” Callie was confused, but Sesi encouraged her to keep moving. “We’ve still got to get this thing, so let’s go.”

A few minutes later, Sesi stopped and leaned against a hatch. “Power down your tech. Don’t move or say anything until I signal, okay?”

Callie nodded, unsure of whether she should say yes since Sesi had just told her not to say anything.

“Good girl,” Sesi said reflexively. Her eyes opened wide, and Callie blushed but now was not the time to dissect this.

Sesi unclipped the hatch cover and peeked inside. There was a single guard who, thankfully, wasn’t looking this direction. She pulled the ulu from its sheath and threaded the shaft between her fingers. An expression of horror crossed Callie’s face.

Sesi removed the hatch cover and slipped across the floor like a shadow until she crouched directly behind the guard.

Like water, she rose, slipped the ulu across his neck and cradled him gently to the floor.

She caught Callie’s eyes, unblinking with her hand clapped over her mouth.

Sesi removed a patch from inside her coat and smoothed it over the wound.

Leaving the body, she pressed her PalmInter to the Hexaline walls.

Small lights revealed the biosig sensors.

A few minutes later, they all went dark.

Sesi locked eyes with Callie and nodded. She clambered out of the access port with remarkably less grace than Sesi had. After helping her to her feet, Sesi refastened the panel.

“You killed him!” Callie whispered

“Maybe. The patch will slow some of the bleeding and regulate his heartbeat. If he comes to or his colleagues find him within an hour, he’ll be fine, but his heart rate will start fluctuating in about ten minutes.

If they’re perceptive, that’s all we have.

” Sesi wiped the blood from her ulu on her pantleg.

She caught Callie staring. “It was my mother’s,” she explained.

“It’s a bit more modern, and they aren’t usually used for this, but given what happened to her, I don’t feel too bad about it. ”

“You don’t feel bad about murder ?” Callie hissed.

“A random murder? Sure. But by the time you understand the whole thing, you probably won’t feel as bad about it either.”

Sesi turned to check the hallway. It was clear. But Callie didn’t move. It was obvious that this issue wasn’t going away. This mission was already fucked.

“We have nine minutes until the patch no longer keeps his heart rate steady. When that happens, security will probably notice and someone is going to check on him. That’ll take at least another minute. Then they’ll realise the biosig sensors are down and the building will go on high alert.”

“Uh…” Callie stammered. She wasn’t sure what had just happened or how she had caused it.

“Out with it. Now.” Sesi ordered.

“My last girlfriend was security. For a smaller corp.” Callie said in a rush. “I can’t just murder people.”

Sesi nodded and then strode over to the hatch. She unfastened it. “Keep talking. What happened to her?”

But she heard nothing. Sesi turned and saw another guard at the door. Callie had frozen.

Callie heard two shots and was struck from behind.

This is it! I’ve been shot! She started hyperventilating, but then the weight of the wound rolled off of her.

The impact had been from Sesi, not a bullet.

She lifted her head just in time to see Sesi whirl, slashing the throat of the guard that had shot her.

This time, there was no patch. Blood sprayed, eyes vast and horrible in shock as he crumpled noisily to the ground.

Callie scrambled to her feet and dove for the access port with Sesi sliding quickly behind. Callie kept running as Sesi refastened the hatch cover.

Heartbeats slammed against her ribcage so hard that she thought they were going to crack. A crippling headache blasted her forehead and she stumbled. A piece of pipe rang out above her and her vision went dark. There were footsteps. Many footsteps? Shuffling. They were all around.

“Let’s get her back.”

Callie recognised that voice.

The footsteps shuffled away. And then things were silent, save the hum of electricity through the conduits and the ringing in her ears. She felt herself being dragged and propped up against the wall. She tried to protest, but found that she couldn’t.

Callie was jolted awake by a massive metal arm slipping around her waist and pulling her to stand.

How long had she been out? She turned to look and saw a giant man, with shark fins coming from his back?

She must have hit her head hard. He scared her, but right now, she didn’t care.

Nor would she have been able to do anything if she did.

The next time she awoke, Callie found herself prone. She could see a soft light coming from overhead. Boots rested on the side rail of an old medibed. Her eyes followed them to Sesi. She wore no coat, just her tank top. Her arms were probably the size of Callie’s legs.

“You’re staring,” Sesi said. The sultry smile said she didn’t mind.

Callie closed her mouth and willed the room to stop spinning.

“Drink some water. It’ll help.” Sesi held out a bottle. Callie took it and found that her throat was extremely dry.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked.

Sesi shook her head. “There was about a fifty percent chance that mission was going to go sideways anyway. I’m actually more impressed that you lasted that long.”

“Don’t you need…” Callie tried to say, but Sesi cut her off.

“Tell me about this former girlfriend of yours. It is former, right? Because Talia is the jealous type.”

“We’ve only been on one real date,” Callie whispered.

“Good to know,” Sesi pursed her lips. “Anyway, the former girlfriend. The one who was security. What happened?”

“She lost her job. We broke up and then she…” Callie couldn’t continue. “I can’t murder people.”

Sesi hung her head, bobbing from side to side.

“I get it. I do.” She pulled out her ulu and sat up, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

“Like I said, this was my mom’s. She left it when she went to work in the city.

They call it a woman’s knife . We use it for skinning, chopping, even cutting hair. ” Sesi smiled, but it was mirthless.

“Siku refused to use it, even though he took over all the domestic tasks when his leg got hurt. I found out later that she was killed. By a security guard. For stealing food because the men she was working for wouldn’t pay her enough to eat.

” Sesi ran her thumb along the blade, as though she were inspecting it.

“Killing people isn’t what these are for, but it seemed appropriate to me. ”

Callie stared while Sesi thumbed the knife in silence.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Sesi stopped her.

“I know. They’re just doing their jobs. In a system that pays people to murder other people for stealing food.

” Sesi frowned. “And yeah, the solution isn’t more murder.

This isn’t for revenge. You’ll have to trust me on that.

You’re in no state for me to explain everything. ”

Sesi stood. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this. You can leave if you want. We’ll find someone else. You’ll never hear from us again.” She sheathed the ulu and stored it on a magclip on her belt. “If you do stay, I promise I’ll never ask you to murder someone. Also, Talia will be really happy.”

Callie’s eyes started to well up. She wasn’t even sure why. Objectively, Sesi was a bad person, wasn’t she? Why was she getting all emotional over this? It must be the concussion.

“But,” Sesi continued, “I will absolutely murder anyone who tries to hurt you.”

“Did you…”

“What? Murder the pipe you ran into? I can if you want.” Sesi grinned.

Callie blinked, trying to clear the moisture fogging her vision. Sesi had saved her life twice now. She tried to remind herself that Sesi was the one who put her in danger both times, but her heart was still racing.

“Though I’ll murder every single Charger if they mistake you for a terrorist again,” she said. “Think about it. I’m sure Talia will be around soon. She can take you home. Unless you’d rather have Tornit do it.”

But Callie didn’t want Talia to take her home right now. She definitely didn’t want Tornit to either. She wanted Sesi.

Stupid body, she scolded herself. This is what happens when all you read is detective novels with shitty romance side plots.