Guardian (37 page)

BOOK: Guardian

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I kept my face impassive. Favian was perceptive, and not always as stable as we would like.
“Just remember who he is, and what he did last time he was here. Make sure you keep an eye on him.”

“
I will,” the Keeper said. “Forever more.”

This was our alternative to freedom, for the Veil, for the Other. A role in rebuilding both worlds, with us.

Though it was about to become so much more.

“
Shards are coming online,” the Keeper said.

“
Initial contact received,” Favian said. Then, “Transmitting.”

The debris screen seemed to ripple, to bounce in millions of tiny waves, before it began to glow.

“It’s working!” Fedor cried, and a great cheer went up from the Unbound, and the debris collectors, gathering behind us.

“
Particles look good,” Favian reported. Mizra, sitting by his head, strained to see the screen above him. “Equal movement, both ways. Balanced.”

“
This should be it,” the Keeper said.

“
Real time coming online…now.”

Images resolved themselves on the debris screen. At first they were hazy, like something far away. Which, I supposed, they were. Then they sharpened, and colour resolved itself.

I recognised the room—the tubes and the screens and the hubs just like the Specialist’s laboratory inside Fulcrum. It wasn’t, of course. The Legate might have spared his life—at the insistence of the programmers, and the Guardian program behind them—but it was not ready to set him free. Not yet. It irked me, the idea of him locked inside that echoing metallic heart, but at least he was alive. The dark world needed him, after all. He was the only programmer with the skills to do what we were about to do, and the Guardian had asked after him, repeatedly. He’d even threatened to take himself offline, and that was just too much for the poor programmers to handle. They’d had a rough few moons, after all.

The image wavered as someone moved to the centre of the screen. It steadied as he sat and smiled broadly out at us. Across worlds, through light and silex, debris and pions. Stretching across the Veil.

I nudged Kichlan forward slightly. He was pale, his eyes wide, as though he couldn’t quite trust himself to hope it was true. To believe.

Lad laughed, sound vibrating to us through the silex wall, and said,
“Hello, Kich. I missed you, bro. I missed you.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jo Anderton lives in Sydney with her husband and too many pets. By day she is a mild-mannered marketing coordinator for an Australian book distributor. By night, weekends and lunchtimes she writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

She’s published short fiction all over the place, online and in print, and her stories have been shortlisted for multiple awards. Jo’s short story collectio
n
The Bone Chime Song and Other Storie
s
was published by Fablecroft Publishing in 2013, and won the Aurealis Award for Best Collection.

Her debut novel
,
Debri
s
was published by Angry Robot Books in 2011, followed b
y
Suite
d
in 2012
.
Debri
s
was shortlisted for the Aurealis award for Best Fantasy Novel, an
d
Suite
d
was shortlisted for the Aurealis award for Best Science Fiction Novel! Jo won the 2012 Ditmar for Best New Talent.