Range (44 page)

She stands there pouting. "I have no stuff."

"No? Well, OK then. Can you leave here? Junco didn't seem to be too sure about that."

"I can leave, I just wanted to take New Peak City for myself. My house was so small in comparison and besides, they made a place for an AI here but she hadn't moved in yet. How could I resist?"

It fucking figures.

It's entirely appropriate that Junco's HOUSE turns out to be a conniving, sneaky little look-a-like who's dead set on getting her way about things. I scoop her up in my arms and we go back into the timeshift together and exit on Gideon's Sargassum terrace.

She squirms in my embrace and I loosen my grip and allow her to slide down. "Wow! Where are we?" She runs to the edge of the terrace, climbs the bottom railing, and leans over. Far over.

My heart thumps a little as I watch her begin to step up on the second railing. "Hey, get the hell off that thing! Put yer feet on the ground, right now!"

She makes no move to obey and I'm crossing the terrace to yank her down when she turns, smiling. "It's far, isn't it? Wow, is this where you live?"

"Very far," I say, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the railing. "And no, this isn't my house, it's Gideon's. I'm looking for him."

She's already run off, squealing her way into the living room yelling something about automated shopping and bathing suits.

It's my turn to lean over the railing. I look down at the black rocks Junco was sitting on when I came here the night of her birthday. I turn my gaze down the beach looking for people, but it's empty. Totally evacuated. They weren't sure what I had planned and since Sargassum is nothing but a floating man-made archipelago, they took the conservative approach and got everyone off the resort before I had a chance to wipe it out with tsunami waves.

I walk back towards the terrace doors and when I reach them, I turn and pace back the other way. I continue this for a while. Just pacing. Thinking. Part of me wants Annun to come back and tell me how Junco's always got a plan. How together she is on the inside. How sneaky she is. That she can pull it off just because she's Junco and she finds a way to pull everything off.

But the rational part sees nothing but the dissipation particles shooting up into the sky like those fountains they have in Vegas.

She's not coming back from this one, Tier. Face it. She's not coming back.

But I've had that thought so often it's becoming cliché. How many times have we sat around and discussed rumors of Junco's demise?

Pretty much once a week since we located her more than four years ago.

She's been dead and gone and then revived and reborn in my mind so many times, I'm not sure what her actual life status is any more.

I look up.

But there's no Halo circling the earth. There's no defense system to protect us. I have no Junco, I have no future that I can see. I have no hope.

There's no hope.

We are fucked.

You can buy The Magpie Bridge at the same retail store where you purchased this one.

End of Book Shit

DEDICATION

A few days ago I lost a good friend of mine…my dog Ollie. So this book is for Ollie because he was just plain awesome and I miss his mopey ass real bad.

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