First Angels Read online

  Ada tilted her head, not sure why full taverns would mean a good time. “Er, thanks. See you around.”

  She backed off into the alcove, and suddenly felt cornered, realizing she had nowhere else to go. The couple gave her odd looks but continued on their way. She could only hope they would forget about her as soon as possible.

  Ada shook her head and resumed her calculations. She needed to focus. Sundown, then, sounded like a good time to strike. People would be busy and the Mayor himself would likely be away from his drone control machine.

  She would crumble a hole into the wall and get in that way, or into the basement if necessary. That would be easiest. So long as she didn’t step right into a barracks or something - which seemed unlikely - she would be better off than if she tried assaulting any of the proper entrances.

  And once she was inside?

  She subvocalized to her ship. Cherry, will you be able to help if I can’t figure out the database?

  Of course. I am equipped for cyber-espionage, and if necessary I can relay commands and cryptographic strikes from the ring.

  Ada didn’t know what cyber-espionage was, but a confirmation was enough. The idea of invoking the power of the gods to gain access to the machine was not unappealing.

  Oh, wait. She hadn’t considered something.

  Can you scan the mayor’s building? Tell me about its insides?

  Yes. I can circle the city in stealth mode, at a safe distance, and perform geometry and energy scans.

  Do it quietly, then fill me in.

  Yes, Ada.

  Ada finished off the apple she was eating, throwing the core to the grassy soil that matted the shadows of the ancient towers. She had her gun, her shield, her code, Zhilik and Tanos were standing by as backup. Once Cherry figured out the building’s layout, she would be ready for sundown.

  In the meantime, she withdrew into one of the towers and sat in the lobby of a building whose function was long forgotten. Whatever it was, it was just a nest now, a place for people to fill with the hand-made artifacts of the new world. She addressed a thought to Zhilik.

  Zhilik, you there?

  Yes.

  There’s a tall tower in the city that I want you two to watch. It’s at the central square, and it’s really busy right now. That’s where I’ll need a distraction, on my mark.

  Very well. Tanos and I are in the city square - he is asking questions of the humans. We will try to find a less-occupied place to wait.

  Ada sighed. Is he still angry?

  It took Zhilik a moment to respond. He has not mentioned it. But he does not seem pleased.

  Of course not. She peered out the window into the square, wondering if she might spot them, but didn’t see anything. They would find a good angle, though - she felt fairly certain of that. So she stayed quiet and waited; luckily, it wasn’t long before the Cherry’s voice whispered into her ear again.

  Scans completed. There is a complex computing and telecommunications system embedded into the three-floor penthouse suite. A private elevator leading directly to the penthouse exists on the fourth floor, in the main tower structure. It is equipped with an analog locking system that cannot be overridden electronically.

  She pursed her lips; the tower was enormous, and she was not interested in climbing it herself. What about getting to the elevator?

  There are multiple paths that can be used to reach the fourth floor, including stairs and public elevators.

  Are they guarded?

  Many are currently in occasional use. There do not appear to be set patrol patterns.

  Ada nodded, even though the ship had no real eyes and couldn’t see her. She would have to pay close attention to the guards, then. She didn’t want to start shooting if she didn’t have to - it would draw too much attention.

  Cherry, I might need you to come get me on short notice, or scan things for me. Just be ready, okay? And stay hidden.

  Yes, Ada.

  She stood up and walked back down the stairs, out into the street. She may be in enemy territory, more or less, but she had resources at her disposal. The enemy knew she was out there, but had no idea what she was capable of. She was going to teach the Mayor a painful lesson.

  What to do in the meantime? She could go find Zhilik and Tanos, and… stare awkwardly at Tanos in silence. Yeah, no. She found an unused suite in a tower across from the Mayor’s home and sat down, peering out the window and pulling out some rations to chew on.

  As the day crawled past, Ada ran through some technical information with Cherry. The ship was always good for a question about ancient technology, or some text to practice reading, with a seemingly endless font of knowledge to draw on about everything - well, except the technophage. The thought was unpleasant, but she might have to face that particular demon alone own one day.

  When evening arrived, bigger crowds began to gather around the Mayor’s tower, with people sporting turquoise armbands streaming in from outside the city. Ada headed out into the square, ducking into a shadowy alcove to camouflage her suit in the colours of what appeared to be the Mayor’s own guard detail. The suit still wasn’t a perfect match in form, but she would have to settle for close enough. She stepped out of the shadows and strode along the side of the city square, heading for a back alley at a leisurely pace.

  Looping around a few buildings brought her to the least-interesting, least-used side of the Mayor’s tower. It seemed to have neither doors nor windows - just a straight wall of ancient concrete.

  Cherry, can I break in somewhere near here?

  Yes. Four meters to your left is a small hallway that is currently unoccupied.

  Ada knew that a meter was about the distance from her fingertip to her nearest breast, so she measured that out four times and recalled the disintegration sigil to mind. It was a simple sigil, something she used before to break out of a closet she had been locked in. And yet here she was, using it to break in. The thought made her grin.

  She glanced carefully to either side to make sure she wasn’t being watched. All clear. She reached out, dragging her fingers along the concrete, willing the code from her fingers -

  Something snapped loudly, throwing her back in a brilliant white flash.

  Ada fell to the grassy dirt, hazy green blotches dancing in her vision and an unpleasant tingling in her finger. “What the fuck?”

  She looked around, squinting and trying to figure out what had happened. The wall was still intact, with no code apparent on it. She heard shouting.

  “Shit.”

  She stood up and quickly camouflaged her suit to match the wall’s colours - not that that would help a great deal, of course. She hurried down the alley, trying to get away as soon as possible. As she reached the town square again, she looked back to see two guards peering down the alley from the other side, pointing at her.

  Cherry , w hat the fuck just happened to me?

  She ducked around the corner as the ship responded. There appear to be reactive compunanites embedded in the building’s wall.

  Whats?

  Cherry paused for a moment. You might call it reactive code. It is a field that remains dormant unless it interacts with new code, in which case it reacts violently.

  Ada’s eyes widened in worry. She had heard of such things before, but only as a lost, fabled skill; how had the Mayor come to have it on his walls?

  That question wouldn’t help her right now. Her eyes darted around, looking for a guard that wasn’t hunting her. Found one. She copied the colours and marched straight towards the front door. Face calm, back straight - how hard could this be? She felt willowy compared to the other guards, gifted as warriors as they probably were, but hoped nobody noticed. She didn’t seem to have much of a choice at this point - the front door seemed her best chance at losing her pursuit.

  She reached out through her suit. Zhilik, Tanos, you two ready?

  Yes. Shall we cause a distraction?

  Not quite. Wait for my signal. Downplay it. Try not to kil
l anyone, and get out and move when you’re done.

  The crowd outside the front door wasn’t as busy as it had been before, and the guards watching the last stragglers enter the great golden doorway seemed attentive. When they looked at her and passed her over completely, she felt a sigh of relief quietly flee her mouth. Still, this was too easy, and there would be guards just behind her actually looking for an intruder. If they noticed her…

  She was taken aback when she stepped into the lobby. The ceiling was dominated by a brilliant display of light, a floating assembly of glowing crystals in slow orbit around a central silver rod. Its purpose was obscure, but it was beautiful - indeed, perhaps that was its purpose. Several strikingly-dressed guests seemed to be gazing up at it as though this was also their first time seeing it. Black-suited waiters carried platters of food around - fruits and meats of species Ada couldn’t identify. Somewhere, somebody was performing strange music, something with thumping percussions, electric warbles, and energetic female singers.

  The walls were even more surprising than all that, covered as they were in huge images, windows into the ancient world. Archival images from a thousand years ago hung here, on display. There were dozens of them - images of men and women in extravagant clothing, of celebrations and dancing, of banquets and drinks. The Mayor’s event here, she realized, was formed in echo of these images of the ancients. And she had to admit, though she had no love for such gatherings, it was an admirable collection of images - it was hard to find them at all, especially in such large sizes.

  Ada ducked into an alcove, made sure nobody was staring directly at her, and reset her suit to its default black. It was a strange piece, but the bold and uniform colour matched the general style of what she was seeing in the other guests, and certainly didn’t look much like either of the other colour schemes she had been wearing today. She stepped back out, and nobody seemed to notice the change. Good.

  She made for one of the sets of stairs, off to the side. Many of the guests were going that way, and since she needed to get to the fourth floor, getting to the second seemed like a reasonable start. She followed them up and glanced back down at the entrance, where a few guards were huddled in discussion, gesturing somewhat frantically. They must be hunting her, spreading the news.

  She sighed. Okay, Zhilik. Distract away.

  We will. Be safe.

  She turned and followed the other guests into the next room. She heard some kind of light commotion behind her, but she didn’t stop to see what the distraction had wrought. So long as it worked.

  As she entered the room, a waiter behind a table smiled and offered her a drink, as he had to those who went before her. It looked like pink wine. She wasn’t thirsty, but perhaps thirst wasn’t the only criteria worth considering - it might help her blend in. She took a sip. Tolerable.

  As she moved on, Ada found herself in a sort of antechamber, a long hallway filled with small huddles of people in conversation. A series of arched columns separated the hallway from a much larger-looking room, brightly lit and apparently the source of the music she had been hearing earlier. She decided to take a moment and assess the situation, so she retreated to the side of the hallway opposite the arches, leaning against the wall. Taking another sip of her wine, she looked about the room, trying to spot any other exits that might lead deeper into the building.

  “Tomb raider, right?”

  She blinked and looked around, thinking for a moment that Cherry was sending more voices at her. Instead, though, she found a young man smiling at her. He didn’t look like a guard, slim and well-dressed as he was, so he might make for a good distraction. She wished she could have a cuter distraction though, at least - she preferred darker hair and eyes, especially in men. Still, a chance to blend in was a chance worth taking.

  She raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think that?”

  “That suit’s a piece of work. I figure you must have got it somewhere interesting.”

  She tried a wry grin. “Oh, you know. Just another day’s work.”

  He smiled amiably, and seemed to be searching for something to say. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. New to Hive, or just passing through?”

  She nodded, looking away from him and back towards the other guests. There were people dancing in the brightly-lit main room. Pair dances, something she had seen peasants do in the villages. One of the things she had enjoyed at the Institute - they never expected her to dance, to be graceful or composed. They expected her to learn the code, and in that she had excelled.

  They also expected her to heed tradition, and in that, she had been markedly less successful.

  “I’ve never really been anywhere south of Glass Peaks.” She kept her eye on the entrance to the hall, and she noticed one of the guards gently leaning into the doorway to look inside. “How about you? Where are you from?”

  “I’ve been here for a few years.” The guard at the end of the hall pulled back, and Ada took a long swig of the pink wine as the young man continued. “I started travelling here from Fogpoint about ten years ago, trading glanterns mostly. People up here seem to love the things.”

  She nodded absently, finishing off the glass. She handed it to him and forced on a bright smile. This hallway was too open - she needed to get out of here. “I’m sorry, I just saw somebody I know. You seem nice. Would you take care of this glass for me?”

  He looked suddenly flustered, and she thought she heard a quiet sigh as she left. She walked over towards the ballroom, hoping that there might be some way deeper into the building from here. She stepped through the archway into the ballroom, and started to look around. There had to be an exit in here somewhere . She had no reason to stick around.

  “Ada Liu?”

  She spun to the right. Her eyes first snagged on a muscular pair of olive-skinned shoulders balanced on an iron backbone. Oh. She looked up, and saw a familiar face break into a smile. Isavel Valdéz uncrossed her arms and took a step towards her, as Ada struggled not to look surprised. “Isavel?”

  “Ada! I’m glad you remember me.”

  Chapter 5

  “Ada Liu?”

  Isavel remembered Ada Liu from their encounter several weeks ago, and she felt a smile brushing up her lips. A friendly face! Ada’s wing-shaped eyes flickered in the light as she turned to face Isavel, and a nervous, pink-tinged smile quickly broke through her confusion. “Isavel?”

  “Ada! I’m glad you remember me.”

  Ada stammered a bit. “Of course! But, er, what are you doing here?”

  Isavel peeked back into the crowd. Sorn was busy watching the entrances; he hadn’t wanted to dance with her. She saw one of the Mayor’s men look over with a frown, so she kept smiling. The more she smiled, here, the more she was in control. She looked back at Ada, and the smile felt more genuine. “Trying to avoid getting talked to by the wrong people.”

  She looked back to the dance floor, then to Ada again. Isavel hadn’t danced in a long time, and Ada was a friendly face, an opportunity. She gestured towards the dance floor, extending her arm.

  “Care to be my distraction?”

  Half of Ada’s mouth smiled in a wry sort of way even as she tensed up. “I, uh, I haven’t danced in a while.”

  Isavel had no intention of leaving herself open for too long. The Mayor was angry about her addressing the people of the city directly, but he should come say so himself, not send servants with veiled messages. She grabbed Ada by the hand and pulled her; Ada stiffened up as Isavel laid her other arm around her shoulders.

  She grinned; had Ada never danced before? Poor girl. “Relax. The music is weird, but it’ll keep us busy.”

  “Sure.” Ada’s eyes darted about uncertainly. “Okay. What do I do?”

  The music was a bit too energetic for Isavel’s taste, and Ada was stiff as a wooden plank, so she decided to go with a simple step she remembered dancing around a fire, a long time ago, in another life. Left, right, left - Ada was looking at her feet, trying
to follow.

  “Eyes up here, Ada. What are you doing in Hive? I thought you were running from the ghosts.”

  Ada did look into Isavel’s eyes, then sideways again, the light dancing on her pale gold-hued skin. Ada was trying hard to follow, but she was awkward, so Isavel decided to wait a little before trying anything more complicated than stepping left and right.

  Ada nodded. “I was, but things changed. I’ve got business in town. What about you?”

  “Much the same. The gods send me where they will.”

  A smile flickered on Ada’s face at that. Isavel remembered she seemed positively blasphemous last time they had met, but something was different this time.

  “You know, I did send you a sign. I guess you might not have seen it, though.”

  Isavel tried to keep her composure, but she miscalculated her step and took them to the left twice in a row, causing Ada to stumble. “Sorry. You mean the shooting star?”

  Ada managed to grin despite being dragged around the dance floor. “Oh, is that what it looked like?”

  Isavel looked for answers in the contours of those eyes. “It did. How… how did you do that?”

  Ada bit her lip. “The gods were feeling generous.”

  Isavel tried to step forward, forgetting for a moment that Ada had no idea what she was doing. They bumped into each other and Ada shuffled back in surprise. “Sorry - Ada, just let me lead the steps.”

  Ada protested. “I don’t even know what that means, Isavel. Don’t expect great things from me when it comes to dancing.”

  “It’s hard to temper people’s expectations.” Isavel‘s eyes briefly caught on Mother Jera as they moved further onto the dance floor.

  Ada chuckled. “Well, if it helps, I still don’t expect great things from you.” Then she paused. “You look tired.”

  Isavel did see genuine concern in Ada’s eyes, and appreciated it. “This city isn’t my favourite place in the world.”

  “So what is your favourite place in the world, then?”

  Isavel frowned; it was a strange question. She didn’t really know. “I haven’t found one yet. But this city… the Mayor and his drones make the city feel unsafe. And it’s just not as fresh as Glass Peaks first was. Sorry, I know that sounds awful.”