Chapter 28
“AZURE?”
Atti’s voice is disbelieving in my earpiece. I found it buried in a desk drawer in the corner, a few minutes after everything went through. Old tech, but Atti’s smart enough to encrypt everything anyway.
“Hey.”
“You bought me?” A pause. “You bought me?”
“Well I wouldn’t put it quite like…” I sigh. “Yup.”
“I have so many questions.”
I keep tapping away at the terminal, eyes on the screen.
“Lucky inheritance, is all you need to know right now. Look, I’ve transferred control of a wallet to you.
Obviously, nobody touches those funds unless I tell you so.
And keep an eye on your shares. If it’s ever going to be possible for anyone to buy a controlling stake away from me, you have permission to use as much as you need to hold them off. ”
“You want me to buy more shares? Do you have any idea how much… oh. I see.” She trails off. “Azure?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s some inheritance.”
“Yeah.” I hesitate, then bring up a wallet code. “Also, transfer enough here to cover the damages to Sanctum.”
“The business that had the industrial accident yesterday?”
“That’s the one.”
Silence. “Not an industrial accident?”
“Not so much.”
She tuts. “I leave you alone for three days.” A few moments more, and then, “You sure you want to pay for the whole thing? It’s almost two percent of the account.”
My eyebrows raise in genuine surprise. “Oh.” Damn. Verity wasn’t kidding when she said she put everything she had into the place. I hesitate, then nod. “Do it.” I don’t like having debts.
“Done. What’s next?”
“What can you tell me about the Keres’ Dupe of me?”
“Um.” There’s a pause. “The what?”
“My clone.”
“You haven’t… hit your head, at all, over the past few days… Azure? Right?”
“No more than usual.” I take a quick glance at Atti’s shares. No change. “I fought it. Sort of. You really have no idea what I’m talking about?”
“No.” She pauses. “I suppose it makes sense, though, if they figured out how. With your rev compatibility…”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mostly. But I’m giving you access to the lab I’m in right now. Make sure no one can trace the connection.” I wait for a camera to blink on nearby, then waggle the severed hand at her. “See this?”
“Gross.”
“Do a DNA analysis for me, would you?” I could manage this part myself, but with Atti’s processing capabilities it will take minutes, not hours. “Just… you may want to clean it first. I had to drag it through the sewer.”
“Yeah. I spotted that. Did you have to swim or something?”
“Shut up.” I scrape more muck from my legs. There’s a pulse shower in the bathroom, but I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. “Where do you need it?”
“Metal plate to your left. That’s it.” A mechanical whir as a bot slides along a railing on the roof, swiftly sterilising the hand and then taking several samples from it via syringes. “You have some nice equipment in there, Azure. Whose lab?”
“Jasa de Alwes.”
“Hah. Good one.”
“Not a joke. She was the client. Turns out she did a deal with the Keres, fifteen years ago. She’s been working for them ever since.”
There’s another several moments where Atti doesn’t respond, just the sound of machinery at work.
“Perhaps you’d better tell me the whole story.”