Broken Pixels (Broken Realms, #4)

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20Following a burst of light, Mara, Ping and Sam, still carrying Cam’s head, reappeared at the corner across the street from the crowded park with the stone fountain. Mara took a deep breath and leaned against the wall of the parking garage. Swiping an errant wisp of hair from her face, she glared at her brother but said nothing.

Sam raised his hand defensively and said, “Hey, I didn’t cause the problem. I just ran over there to help out.” The book bag slipped off his shoulder and slid down his arm. He sat it on the ground and shifted Cam’s head into the crook of that arm so it faced outward. “Cam didn’t get zapped by the purple crystals, and I did keep you guys from getting mobbed. Temporarily at least.”

“Yes, but we probably would have figured something out if you hadn’t shown up,” she said.

“Don’t expect me to stand around and do nothing if I think you guys are in danger. You wouldn’t do it if you were in my place,” Sam said.

Tiredness swept the irritation from Mara’s face. “All right, I get it. Just don’t get yourself killed. I’m the one who would have to face Mom.”

“And, if something happened to you, I would have to face her,” he responded.

She shook her head. “Not true. If something happens to me, you’d have no way to get home. You’d be stuck here in this crazy robot realm for the rest of your life.”

“This robot realm, as you insist on calling it, wasn’t so crazy until your friend showed up and began experimenting on people,” Cam said.

Mara reached out and touched Cam’s cheek. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it came out. Let’s get you to the repository and see if we can do something about all this.” Turning to Ping, she said, “I’m a little discombobulated. How much farther before we reach the railcar stop?”

Ping pointed east and said, “Three blocks ahead and one to the left, I believe. Can you walk? Are you continuing to experience those pains?”

Mara pushed herself off the parking garage wall and leaned down to pick up the book bag next to Sam’s foot. She swung it over a shoulder. “No, no pain. It disappeared as quickly as it came.”

“So you’re okay to walk a few blocks then?” Ping asked.

Mara nodded and held out a hand for her brother to lead the way. As he stepped off the curb, he said, “If she had popped us to the repository instead of to this street corner, we wouldn’t have to walk at all.”

She rolled her eyes as Ping fell in step next to her. “I didn’t exactly have time to plan an itinerary.” She paused and said, “Maybe I should—”

Ping shook his head. “Unless you are under some kind of duress, it might be best if we just get there using conventional means. You’ve already tapped into your abilities enough to suffer the flickering aftereffects. Twice. There’s no point in pushing it.”

After walking less than half a block, a high-pitched wail sliced through the night and echoed off the surrounding buildings. A low chorus of reverent voices followed. “Be the light. Be the light.”

The three of them stopped walking and turned toward the park, now blocked from view by a tall office building. However, they could still see the face of the parking garage across the street, and, on it, waves of amber light danced through the shadows of the trees around the park. Something was burning. No, someone was burning. They could smell it.

Mara looked at Ping aghast and grabbed his arm. He shook his head and said in a low voice, “We can’t be sure they did it, and, even if they did, there’s nothing we can do about it right now. We need to return Cam’s head and see if we can ascertain what’s happening here before we act. Assuming anything can be done.”

After a moment of listening to the chanting behind them, Ping put an arm over Mara’s shoulder, and they turned away to continue walking. The sounds of their steps on the pavement was not enough to drown out the sounds from the park, and Mara needed to hear something else, so she asked Ping, “What is she trying to accomplish by messing with these people? What does the Aphotis want?”

“We know what she wants—to mold this reality to her whims, to meet her own twisted ideal of how things should be. That’s what the battle for existence is about—who gets to determine the nature of reality when it’s all said and done. Whose concept is the most viable? Which one will win out?” Ping said, sliding into lecture mode.

Mara stared ahead but looked through the cityscape ahead. “Viable. One viable realm. That’s what my counterpart called it.”

“Excuse me? Have you heard that phrase before?” Ping asked.

Mara nodded. “I ran into another Mara inside the Chronicle. She took over Sam’s body—rearranged his pixels—and said that the Aphotis wanted to destroy the one viable realm in favor of what she wanted creation to be.”

“That makes sense. But why haven’t I heard about this interaction with your counterpart before?” he asked, then added, “The concept of one viable realm is an extremely important one, metaphysically.”

“You and your dragon alter ego were busy flying around Portland, setting everything on fire,” Mara said. “It was sort of tough to bring you up to speed when you were blowing fire at me.”

“I see. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the dragon did turn out to be your niece, even though she occupied my body,” Ping said.

“I suppose that’s true. Weird but true. So, if this concept is so profound, why haven’t you mentioned it before? Why did I have to hear it from my counterpart inside the big blue bubble?”

“Metaphysics is a vast and complex field. We have not had the opportunity to discuss many concepts. I have an advanced degree in the subject, and you’ve had the benefit of a couple discussions in a warehouse. The reality of the situation is that we’ve barely scratched the surface of metaphysics, though I must admit your practical experience probably gives you more insight than most would ever hope to attain.”

“Great. So I don’t know squat, but what does this one viable realm have to do with anything? Is this realm it? The viable realm is one where people have synthetic bodies?” she asked.

From up ahead, Sam said, “I vote no on viability for the robot realm.” Looking down, he said to Cam, “Sorry, I’m just not a fan of your reality.”

“No problem. Your realm smells like body odor,” Cam said.

“Technically you haven’t been to my realm. But, to be honest, mine smelled worse.”

Ping shook his head at the banter ahead and turned to Mara. “The Aphotis can shape events, can even affect the nature of this or some other realm, but I don’t think she can know the one viable realm. It hasn’t been decided yet.”

“The cosmic beta test is still being conducted,” Mara said.

“Exactly.”

“So what’s she up to? What’s she hoping to find by dismembering these people? What’s going on with that little purple crystal, and why is it making these people so crazy? How can any of that help her?”

Ping tapped Sam on the shoulder and pointed to the left ahead. They turned a corner. To Mara, he said, “I could be wrong, but I get the impression that, whatever it is that she’s attempting, she hasn’t accomplished it yet. She’s made some progress, but she’s not quite got a handle on it.”

“What makes you think that?” Mara asked.

“Clearly the atrocity at the church did not have the hallmarks of a scientific endeavor. It looked more like the work of a madman than a researcher seeking to understand the intricacies of artificial life. Still, when she talked to you through the old woman, she mentioned having completed her explorations. The impression I got was she had simply completed her data collection and still had to develop some kind of solution based on the information she had gleaned from dismembering those people. Again it’s just my glimpse from the interaction with her.”

“It sounds logical. So the purple crystals?”

“We’re assuming that’s her handiwork, but, considering the old woman the Aphotis spoke through was carrying one of them, it’s a safe assumption.” Ping shrugged. “Perhaps her first stab at whatever she wishes to accomplish?”

“You mean getting people to go berserk and immolate themselves isn’t what she’s shooting for?”

“If it is, I don’t see how it helps her accomplish her goals,” Ping said. Again he tapped Sam on the shoulder and pointed to the right. “This is the alley that leads to the railcar stop.”

“I know,” Sam said. “Remember, I’m holding the head with GPS built in.”

“Ah. I suppose my navigation skills weren’t necessary after all,” Ping said.

They turned into the alley and approached the garbage Dumpsters that sat below the building’s lights that flanked the alley. Sam suddenly slowed his pace, causing Ping and Mara to bump into him. Then he stopped.

“Someone’s up there, sitting on the ground,” Sam said. He stepped aside and pointed to the figure—a girl with long hair, her head hanging down to her chest, her back against the rolling garage door that led to the railcar stop’s elevator. She sat just beyond the cone of light pouring over the Dumpsters.

Mara swung the book bag off her shoulder and fished out the flashlight. With a click, she aimed the beam at the girl’s torso. A large hole had been ripped out of her chest. Metal ribs and translucent fibers gleamed from the opening. When Mara took a step forward toward the girl, Ping put a hand on her shoulder.

“No, stay here and hold the light. Let me take a look,” he said. He didn’t wait for a response and walked ahead. He slowly approached the girl and crouched next to her, the circle of the flashlight illuminating the girl’s upper body and head. He reached down, lifted her chin and gasped.

The face that stared back into the light was Mara’s.