Epilogue
Isaw your girlfriend entertaining your sisters with potatoes.” Mackenzie hooked her flight suit to the transport.
“Okay?” Lusa adjusted the comms system to her ears. “Are you going to tell me every time you see her now?”
“I gave her back to you in pristine condition and you wrecked her in less than a day.” Mackenzie’s lip made a slight pout, offended for some reason.
“She’s not yours. Or mine. She’s a person.” Lusa glared at her. Perhaps not hers, not yet, but Lusa definitely belonged to Caoimhe, whether or not Caoimhe knew.
Lusa sighed. She could earn certainty. It was a goal, like the ones she set for herself on the training runs.
Mackenzie glared back. “You smell. You didn’t have time for a shower first?”
She deserved that. She’d completely lost track of time. Lusa touched her lips, the faint hint of iron lingering. She’d lost control, hurt her. And somehow, Caoimhe reacted perfectly, knew exactly how to handle it. Handle her.
She knew it would always be a question that lingered in the back of her mind.
Did she actually want to eat her? Would she stop before she crossed that threshold?
Would she succumb to the horrible appel du vide?
Or did her frenzy have limits? She hoped it did.
Like Minuschok – a razor clawed predator that had an off-switch as long as she was around Callie.
The dull ache brought a slight smile to her lips.
Caoimhe hadn’t exactly found her off-switch.
She allowed her frenzy to continue, redirected and harmless.
The release of it, along with spasms that had wracked her body so thoroughly, they excommunicated whatever demon compelled her to such violence. For now.
And the crying afterward. Lusa had been terrified that Caoimhe would leave after what had happened.
But she stayed, holding her in all of her mess.
All of her savagery. All of her vulnerability.
She had even said it was hot. But the last thing Lusa had wanted was to be encouraged to do that again.
That would be flying too close to the sun.
Caoimhe’s lips were against the back of her neck when the banging on the door began.
Lusa hastily threw on some TacWeave pants and a sports bra, along with her knife belt.
She turned to see the most loving and longing gaze directed back at her.
If it hadn’t been for Mackenzie dragging her away, she would have broken down in tears again.
Glancing over to the pilot’s seat, Sparx flipped his visor down to avoid eye contact. “Coward,” Lusa muttered.
“It’s not his fault you stink.”
“Fuck you, Mackenzie.” Lusa readjusted her comms and stared out the window.
“Is that any way to talk to your new shibari instructor?”
Lusa heaved herself around. “What nonsense is this?”
Mackenzie smiled salaciously. “Your mom knows.”
Lusa remained stone-faced. “Which mom?”
“Does it matter?” Mackenzie pulled her head back, clearly not understanding why.
Lusa did not have time to explain why a gang leader, an assassin and the woman who abhorred violence, yet kept them together, might have different parenting styles. “It does. Which mom?”
“Talia.” Mackenzie tilted her head to the side, waiting for more information.
“Okay, then.” Lusa wasn’t going to give it.
Mackenzie wouldn’t understand that in any other time and place, Lusa would have been placed in a psych ward, or at the very least, therapy.
Instead, she got Talia, telling stories behind each of her trophies and how they were penance for leaving her sister.
The message; I’m more fucked up than you, and I found someone.
Lusa doubted the truth of it until Caoimhe. Caoimhe knew. Caoimhe helped mitigate it. And most of all, Caoimhe still wanted her.
Once it became obvious that Lusa wasn’t about to explain, Mackenzie gave up.
“Your mom said you would feel weird about it if she taught you, so when we get back, you and Caoimhe will learn how to tie rope. That should make keeping your teeth to yourself a bit easier.” Mackenzie bit the air, clacking her teeth together.
“I’d rather die.” Lusa faced the window in a huff, rocking the chair as she spun around.
“Your moms can teach you then. I understand they’re quite good at it.”
Lusa looked over at Sparx. Sparx raised his hands. “I’m staying far away from this one.”
“That’s a first,” Lusa muttered. “Fine. You can teach us.”
The transport touched down among the low scrub brush. The old part of Tyton could be seen as a hazy blue outline in the distance.
“Why so close? Won’t we be spotted?” Lusa unclipped her flight suit from the frame.
“This tower array died long before I stopped working out here. And this was always a dead zone.” Sparx removed his comms set and flipped the switch to release the hatch. “You’ll see why in a minute.”
Lusa attached her monocle and turned to Mackenzie. “Ready for a hike?”
“That thing looks ridiculous.” She hopped out of the transport. “Let me bioengineer one for you.”
Lusa ignored her and started toward the city, murky water welling up around her feet. Sparx was right. It would have been futile to build a transport corridor here. “Let’s get this over with.”
By mid-afternoon, swamp and grass had given way to hunks of asphalt, destroyed by years of frost heaves and zero maintenance.
“These boots are surprisingly comfortable.” Mackenzie lifted a foot to show Lusa, as if she’d never seen a boot before.
“Were boots not comfortable when you were alive?”
“I admit, I’d never worn boots before. They’re horrifically ugly.”
Lusa stared at one of the most beautiful pair of mukluks her mother had ever made. The thrill in her eyes when Callie brought home just the right seal pelt for them and she had the gall to call them ugly.
Lusa looked her dead in the eye. “If my mom was here, she would slit your throat.”
“Which one?”
Talia would have already killed her. So would Callie, though she would hesitate and be less skilled and therefore it would be more painful.
Sesi would make sure she unlocked the vault before she tied her to a chair and made certain she really regretted it before finishing the job.
“It doesn’t matter.” Lusa continued walking.
Sparx grimaced before moving on to follow Lusa. “She’s not kidding. You really need to watch what you say around them.”
“How have you survived this long, then?” Mackenzie blew out her cheeks and picked up the pace.
“Callie likes me,” Sparx said proudly.
The dilapidated strip mall somehow looked even worse than the last time she’d seen it. Gulls lined the eaves while swarms of them milled about below as if it were some sort of seagull social event. One nipped at a loose string hanging from Mackenzie’s rucksack.
“Get the fuck away from me,” she yelled, flapping her arms. The bird looked offended and skipped off.
“All that time as a computer and you can’t handle a bird?”
“Why would I care about birds?” Mackenzie straightened her jacket in an attempt to regain some dignity.
“Even when I was alive, climate models suggested that they would be extinct by now.” But we didn’t factor in human decline.
Wolves and bears were gone in my time. I was a little surprised to see you have a pet cougar. ”
“I wouldn’t call Minuschok a pet.” Lusa imagined Mackenzie getting mauled to death trying to touch her. “There are enough rabbits and deer around to keep her fed.”
“And no-one seems to mind having murder-cats in the woods next to your house?”
Lusa stared off into the orange haze of the sun making its nightly descent.
That was her, wasn’t it? Wild and uncontrollable?
A predator needing to be managed or exterminated?
And a group of mothers, rightly concerned for their daughters’ safety, had made her feel like a dangerous outsider for most of her life.
Even her own mothers had recognised the threat and mitigated her in their way.
But somewhere in the woods, Minuschok was still there. Doing her own thing. No-one needed to control her. No amount of training would change her anyway. You simply knew what you could and couldn’t do when she was nearby. And if something was off about her, someone would go get Callie.
And Lusa would be the same. Caoimhe was her person.
Her girlfriend. Lusa took a deep breath and swept the hair out of her face.
She’d done everything she could to push her away.
To make sure she knew that she wasn’t safe.
But Caoimhe had wanted to stay. She wasn’t sure where this would go long-term, but for now, she was so unbelievably grateful she was there. And for now was all she could ask for.
“Did you run out of RAM?” Mackenzie jolted her back to reality. “What now?”
Lusa swallowed, her mouth had become strangely dry. “The vault is downstairs.” She tuned her monocle to Sparx’s frequency and looped him in to the video feed.
“The last time we did this,” Sparx nudged Lusa with his shoulder. “You threw a knife at your girlfriend.”
“Oh, I need to hear the whole story!” Mackenzie practically hopped with excitement.
“No, you don’t.” Lusa opened the door. “Call mom the moment we have her. The cussing out is going to be legendary and I want to see all of it.”
Mackenzie made a face.
“What?” Lusa shrugged. “I’m not above schadenfreude. Didn’t you have sisters?”
“No.” Mackenzie followed through the door. “Most families that had kids only had one.”
“How long had the population been declining? Lusa picked her way around the rotting floorboards toward the stairwell.
“You have no idea. Men haven’t changed at all.”
“I heard that.” Sparx’s voice came through Lusa’s monocle. She ignored him.
Leaning against the generator in the bunker-like concrete room, Sesi looked older, more tired, yet relieved. Her shoulders relaxed at the sight of her daughter, spreading her arms wide.
“You’re here!” Lusa fell into her, the scent of strength and home amidst the dust and decay of a long-abandoned room.
“Dealing with Pinga is getting to be a habit, isn’t it?” Sesi ran her thick fingers along Lusa’s cheek. “You know she’s not your responsibility.”
The ache behind her eyes overwhelmed her, walls turning to paper, dissolving in a fury of hot tears.
Sesi’s arms prevented her from stepping away or hiding.
“I was going to teach you to punch your feelings out in the boxing ring, but Talia gave you those damn knives first.” Sesi’s slight laugh said she was only half joking.
Lusa tried to stretch her face muscles in some absurd attempt to stop the tears. “I’m not for vegetables,” she managed through salt-stained lips.
“Not for vegetables,” Sesi repeated with a warm smile. “And we are incredibly lucky for that. Especially Pinga.”
“I forgot how often bodies did that.” Mackenzie’s voice wavered, wiping her own tears. “It’s really fucking annoying.” She spread her arms.
“Is she expecting a hug?” Sesi whispered, pulling Lusa close.
“I heard that.” Mackenzie said. “And yes. I am.”
Shrugging, Lusa moved aside, the incongruity distracting her from her feelings. Sesi hugged Mackenzie awkwardly.
Mackenzie gripped Sesi’s biceps. “Damn, I can see where…” Sesi shoved her off before she could finish.
“She does that.” Lusa rushed to explain before Sesi killed her.
“Just do your thing.” Sesi pointed to the terminal, eyes shooting daggers.
“What are you going to do to them?” Lusa had been so focused on getting Pinga back, that she hadn’t considered what would happen with the Chargers.
Sesi shoved her hands in her pockets. “Siku is on it.” More would not be said.
Mackenzie looked around for a moment. “The room’s crooked.”
Lusa activated the visual level on her monocle. Mackenzie was right, but she didn’t understand why she should care. “So what?”
Mackenzie booted up the machine. “Bank vaults are usually extremely level. This building is sinking.”
The vault hissed and deep metallic pings resounded from the door before it popped open a crack. Lusa rushed to it to pry it the rest of the way.
Slipping in the moment she could fit, Lusa found – nothing. The same bare concrete. Bare steel shelving and old paper, yellow and half-fused to the floor. In the corner, a hole large enough to crawl through.
Mackenzie squeezed into the vault, eye twitching, followed closely by Sesi. “That hole is recent.”
“Do you know where it goes?” Lusa knelt at the entrance.
“This whole section was built before they moved us here.” Mackenzie turned to Sesi. “Even before your hidey hole in the tunnels. There’s no map.”
“How is that possible? Someone must have designed it.” Sparx’s voice resonated through her monocle. Lusa relayed the question.
“Autonomous drilling bots. They set up geothermal power hubs, drainage, that sort of thing. Their only job is to get infrastructure to service planned outposts. How it gets done doesn’t matter and they make things up as they encounter obstacles.
Half of the holes they drill are dead ends.
” Mackenzie’s hands followed random paths.
“They’re for temporary installations. They’re still down there and there’s no way to know the stability of the terrain once they’re done.
There’s a reason no-one built over this. ”
“Fuck.” Sparx’s voice came over the monocle again.
Massaging her forehead, Sesi crouched next to the hole. “Tell Sparx to contact Siku. This is going to take longer than we thought.”