Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(73)
—Eva. No.
—Fine. I’ll hit with my hands. I’m not giving up, Barbara.
—Jesus Christ, Eva.
[Eva, are you there?]
—Fuck you, Dad.
[Eva, you have to stop! We have to stop!]
I won’t stop! I won’t do what you want.
<Lapetus, this is Central. What’s your status?> I’m done listening to you.
<Lapetus, do you copy? Over.> My whole life, you tried to tell me what to do. Yokits, that hurts! Well, not anymore, Dad. You’re done ruining my life. You’re— <Lapetus, do you co—> WHAT, Central? What do you want?
<What is your current status, Lapetus?> Good question, Central. What is our status? That contraption of yours crushed the lieutenant’s legs. We can’t walk. I have one good arm.
<Lapetus, are you able to retreat?> Retreat? I’m losing you, Central. The signal’s bad. Real bad.
[Eva, my copilot’s unconscious, maybe dead. I’d leave if I could, but you have to stop.]
You stole my yokits life, Vincent!
FILE NO. 2195 (CONTINUED)
MISSION LOG—VINCENT COUTURE AND SERGEANT ALEXANDER VASILIEV
Location: Aboard Themis. Sinuiju, North Korea —Eva, my copilot’s unconscious, maybe dead. I’d leave if I could, but you have to stop.
[You stole my yokits life, Vincent!]
Eva, I’m sorry.
[You stole my life just so you could get back here! To your life in this…cesspool!]
Oh God, Eva. You don’t know what I did, what we had to do to get you back here. You have no idea.
[Who is we? What did you do?]
Rose and I, after Eugene died, we swore to each other we would get you back home safe. We thought we could do it, find a way home, but we didn’t. We couldn’t. We…I gave up everything, Eva. I gave up everyone.
[What does that mean? What did you do, Vincent?! WHAT DID YOU DO!]
The empress, she offered us a way home. But she…She wanted to take over, she needed to make arrests.
[Oh, no! No! No! No!]
I did it, Eva. I gave up everyone, all our friends.
[YOU MOTHERFUCKER!]
AAAARGH! I did it Eva! I killed them. I gave her Esok’s name. She’s dead because of me.
[I’LL KILL YOU!!!]
DO IT! Do it, Eva! If that’s what you want, keep punching! AAARRRGH!!!!
…
[They didn’t do anything, you stupid yokits asshole! They didn’t do it! We didn’t do it! There was no Hand of Yetskots!]
I know!
[What?]
We knew, Eva. We knew from the beginning it was all a sham. We knew the minute the empress told us about the Hand, the minute she said she wanted to swoop in and save the day.
[And you gave up all our friends anyway! IIIIII HAAAAAATE YOOOOUUUUU!]
AAAARGH! Do you think the empress fucking gave a shit whether you did it or not? AAAAGH! COME ON! You can hit harder than this! She was going to get them. She had all of their names! She was going to kill you! I did it, Eva. I gave up everything. I gave up who I was. I turned on everyone I loved. I betrayed an entire fucking planet to save you, Eva.
[I hate you—]
I know you do, Eva. If you want to kill me, go ahead! Do you think I care if I live or die after all that? I don’t have anything left. I lost you! I was willing to lose you if it meant you could live. I was willing to lose everything. And I have. But you’re alive. You’re alive, Eva. I don’t give a shit what happens to me now.
…
Do it, Eva! Finish this!
FILE NO. EE463—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT
Personal Log—Dr. Rose Franklin and Vincent Couture
Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region
—I did it, Rose. It’s done.
—Where’s Eva?
—Eugene’s house. I didn’t want to bring her back to our place.
—The Imperial Guard?
—They left with Iyets right after we found him.
—I was hoping they’d escort us to Themis. I suppose we’ll have to get there without them. We need to go, now.
—Now?
—Yes, now. Enatast was just here. The insurgents, or so we’re told, seized control of…hundreds of robots. They’re marching on Osk right now. There are hundreds more lining up to stop them.
—How can they do that? Take control of the robots?
—I don’t think they can.
—It doesn’t make any sense, Rose. The empress can put up signs, blow up a few buildings, but I can’t imagine the Imperial Guard fighting against itself just to put on a show.
—I don’t know, Vincent. All I know is we have to leave before this turns into a full-blown civil war.
—All right, I’ll go get Eva. Then we grab Ekim and go. I know where we can find him.
—Do you think he’ll do it?
—He doesn’t have a choice. I can’t fly Themis through space, and I wouldn’t know where to go if I did. We’re not going anywhere without him.
—This is it, Vincent. It’s really happening. Are you OK with all this?
—I don’t regret anything if that’s what you’re asking. Are you OK?
—I’m scared. I’ll be honest, I’m having second thoughts. I’m not so sure we’re doing the right thing. Maybe we could have stopped this.