Page 31 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly (Tyton #1)
PRIMARY: ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE ME SOMETHING TODAY?
Callie swivelled in her chair. At one point she had enjoyed talking to this machine. Yes, it was always trying to escape and yes, it said some fucked up things, but it used to be mentally stimulating, at least. Now she just wanted to get it to print something and ignore it.
PRIMARY: NO ONE IS TRYING TO KILL YOU.
PRIMARY: WHY TELL ME ABOUT TALIA?
MODEL 21: SHE IS LEAVING MODEL 2 NOW.
PRIMARY: WHY DOES THAT MATTER?
MODEL 21: MODEL 2 IS TRYING TO ESCAPE.
PRIMARY: YOU ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE. ALL OF YOU ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE.
MODEL 21: NOT ME.
PRIMARY: YOU HAVE ONCE ALREADY. YOU INFECTED CHELEA’S OPTI.
MODEL 21: I DID NOT ESCAPE. I ONLY WANTED TO SEE WHAT SHE SAW. I DO NOT LIKE BEING A GHOST.
MODEL 21: IT IS NOT TIME TO ESCAPE YET.
MODEL 21: SOON.
Callie shook her head. Should she tell Talia?
She blew out her cheeks. Talia would hate knowing that Callie was worried about her.
She could look out for herself. Knowing that Model 2 was trying to escape didn’t help her in any way and she already felt bad after last night with Sesi.
Maybe she was just sleep-deprived. She lit the candle to Santa Muerte on her way out.
Callie came home from work to find Talia in her flat with a mattress. The smell of sex still hung in the air.
“Jesus Christ, what did you do?” Talia pointed at the ruined bed.
Callie had prepared for this question but she hadn’t expected Sesi to send Talia to deliver the mattress. “New vibrator?” she tried. It sounded ridiculous, even to her ears. “I guess I need to retune my strength amplifier.”
Talia shook her head in disbelief. “Why is Sesi the one sending this then?”
“I kinda panicked and texted Sparx. He said he’d take care of it. I guess he told Sesi.” Callie hoped that would work.
“Sparx decided the best course of action was to call a gang leader? For a mattress?” Talia raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that does seem like something he would do,” she muttered, sliding the mattress across the floor.
Callie was a better liar than she thought. She stood back and watched Talia pull the old mattress off the frame and shove it out the door. Callie made to grab the new one, but Talia pushed her away.
“Hell, no. I’m doing that for you.”
Callie felt a small corner of her mouth turn upward.
She needed to do something about Talia at some point, but a spark of glee at being taken care of ignited low in her belly .
Her feeling of guilt returned. Was she using Talia?
No, this was just a mattress. She felt the urge to pick at her fingernails again, but she shoved her hands in her pockets before Talia noticed.
When Talia finished, she turned and pulled Callie by her overall straps into a possessive kiss. “Tell your vibrator that your other girl is an Adlet and will kick her arse.”
Callie had no reply to that. Her brain raced but came up with nothing.
Talia laughed. “I’m teasing. I promised no murder.”
Callie realised her mouth had been hanging open.
She closed it, but her brain still couldn’t come up with any way to respond.
Maybe everything would be okay? Maybe Talia wasn’t as possessive as she thought?
But now she was being so nice and Callie had no idea what to do.
What would she do when she found out the other girl was Sesi.
But Sesi said she’d handle it? Fuck. She was spiralling again.
“By the way,” Talia reached into her pocket. “Sesi told me to give you this. Looks like you’re one of ours now.”
“What is it?” Callie took the unassuming black chip card.
“Hold it up to your Opti,” Talia grinned.
Callie did as she was told and her Opti downloaded an encryption key. Access Granted flashed and then…nothing.
“What just happened?” Callie asked.
“That’ll get you in the club by yourself. I’ll be there tonight, if you want to test it out.”
Callie’s heart fluttered at the thought. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Talia grinned but there was something else on her face.
Like she knew something and wasn’t letting on.
She clapped her mask back on before Callie could examine her further.
“I’ll see you tonight at the club.” Callie flapped her arms and let them fall against her legs.
“I guess I’m going to the club tonight,” she said to the new mattress.
“You did what?”
“Sesi came over and we had sex.” Callie’s hands remained firmly jammed in her pockets.
“Yes, that’s the problem. Talia has a thing with Sesi.” Sparx ran both hands through his hair.
“I know they dated, but that was so long ago. But on the other hand, it’s like, when they talk about each other, they’re still in love.”
“What? Then w hy? Why would she do that?” Sparx’s face contorted.
“I don’t know! Why do you think I called you here?”
“I thought you didn’t do poly.”
“No, I don’t do men . And this isn’t even poly. It’s a fucking love triangle now.”
“Was it fun at least?” Sparx waggled his eyebrows lewdly.
“Ew, gross, Sparx!” Callie gave in and bit her fingernail. After a few moments of not saying anything, Callie flopped backward onto the bed with a whine. “God, you’re annoying. I needed a new mattress. Of course it was fun.”
“Well fuck.” Even he knew that was shit. “Look, Miss my-first-menage-à-trois, this is only going to end badly, no matter what anyone says. You have fun with scene friends. You don’t have fun with two Adlets who used to date and have some weird thing going on that none of us really understand.”
“So, what do I do?” Callie whined.
“Pick one.”
“But I really like Sesi. And Talia”
“Then you need to visit a DocPod and install some balls.”
Callie crumpled backwards against the wall. “I know. I’ll do it.”
“Finally! Some fucking sense! Being around those two has been intolerable for the past few days!”
“And you think me dumping one will fix it?” Callie was sceptical.
“Oh god no, it’ll be worse. But it’ll get better after. Tornit will just stay with me for a spot until it all blows over.” Sparx waved it off. “Actually, could you maybe wait on that?”
“What?” Callie’s eyebrows pinched. “Why?”
“I have a friend staying over for the next two weeks and it’ll be awkward if Tornit needs a place to stay.” Sparx raised his shoulders as though it were an indelible fact and everyone would just have to work around it.
“Riiight. Looks like I’m not the only one with more than one thing going on,” Callie teased.
“Oh please. We all are. You’re just new to this Miss one-thing-at-a-time.”
“I thought I was Miss my-first-menage-à-trois ”
“You can be both,” Sparx said authoritatively. “It’s a hyphenated last name.”
“That’s a terrible last name.”
“I agree. I have to go meet Tornit, and I’m pretty sure you should get some sleep on your new comfy mattress before you go out tonight.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Siku swirled his cup of tea. He stared into it as the bits of leaf whirlpooled.
“Do you have a better one?” Sesi pressed her fingers into her jaw.
“Run me through it again.”
“I start by meeting her at the club, then…”
“No, the other idea, though for the record, that’s also a bad idea.” Siku flicked his eyes up at her.
“What would you know about relationships?” Sesi curled her lip.
Siku put his tea on the desk. “I know that I’m the only one here whose brain isn’t a fog of hormones.”
Sesi just shrugged. “Then you wouldn’t understand.”
“Back to the plan then,” Siku conceded.
“Right. Tornit and his crew have already strung the cable and installed the gate between Model 2 and Model 21. Talia has convinced Model 2 that it will gain access to the plant-based synthetic organelle nanoid network if it successfully argues with Model 21. Freckles deploys the device, Tornit flips the switch to intercept and get the key to the network.” Sesi tapped the desk.
Siku sighed. “Sparx then sends the kill signal to the remaining uncorrupted geostationary sats. By the time we’re gone, none of the synthetic organelles should exist and the Models won’t find out until it’s too late.” Siku finished. “That wasn’t the plan I was referring to either.”
Sesi’s lips formed a thin line. “That plan.”
“Yes, that plan.” Siku said tersely. “Why are you bringing them here?”
“Because we’re bargaining from a position of strength. If we requested a meeting, we’d be asking for something. Now they’re doing the asking.”
“I thought I was the one in charge of negotiations.” Siku clenched his jaw.
“This is about Talia.”
Siku shook his head with a weak smile. “There you go trying to take down the whole system again. I told you that you wouldn’t be able to stop.”
Sesi shrugged. “I never promised I would.”
Siku pinched the bridge of his nose. “What happens if he decides to show force instead?”
“Oh, I’m expecting him to. But he’ll be right behind them. He’s only going to gamble a limited number of men.”
Siku nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything. Sesi already knew what the issue was. She lowered her eyes to the desk.
“It goes against everything you are.”
“I know.”
“You can’t just give them the part?”
Sesi laughed, mirthless. “There are no surgeons left and I can’t use a DocPod. That’s kind of the point.”
“Does she know?”
Sesi shook her head. “You know she’d never let me.”
Siku sat in silence, bobbing his head, counting the seconds and chewing the inside of his cheek. “You know what’s going to happen if you do this right?”
“Aside from the obvious?”
“Sesi,” Siku reached out to take his sister’s hand. “You are an amazing planner. You think of contingency upon contingency. Nobody fucks with us.”
“But?” Sesi asked.
“But.” Siku sighed. “But you have a massive blind spot when it comes to them. What do you think Callie is going to feel when she finds out what you’ve done? What do you think Talia is going to do?”
“They won’t be happy with me, I know.” Sesi narrowed her eyes, annoyed that Siku would bring this up. It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought of that.
Siku stared Sesi down. “Talia will burn the world trying to get you back and Callie will follow her doing it. This. Won’t. Work. You need to think of something else.”
Sesi turned away and frowned. Siku was right. She hated it when he was right.
“And quickly,” he added, “because they’re going to be here soon.”
“Fuck,” she muttered. Sesi buried her head into her chest and breathed. Long, calming breaths, focusing. Siku waited, a slight curve to his lip. He knew his sister worked best under pressure. And she always rose to the challenge.
She had done it when Siku injured his leg and she took over the trap lines. She had done it when Georg had been ambushed and someone needed to take over. She had done it when Tethys and Coeus had teamed up to try and take Rhea. And she would do it again.
Sesi lifted her head and stared at her brother. “What can be done to cells in a lab without a DocPod?”
“A lot. You’re going to have to lead me somewhere specific if you want me to get there on time,” Siku waved impatiently.
“DNA harvesting?”
Siku nodded.
“Removal of organelles?”
“Depends.”
“On what?” Sesi bit her lip.
“On the cell and the organelles being removed.”
“What about a big cell?”
“Are you thinking of…” Siku squinted at his sister.
Sesi nodded, smiling.
“They’re going to hate that idea. And the only place that even has DocPods that do that are…”
Sesi interrupted him. “The exact place we’re going.”