Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(70)
He rests, panting, and prepares to swing again.
She steps forward. “Byron!”
And then they both freeze. She, no doubt because she’s just realized the monumental stupidity of what she’s done. He, because of all the things he might have expected to see, surely this is the very last. For ten long seconds they stare at each other, paralyzed, waiting.
He’s the one to break the silence, staring at the clear screen on her helmet, soaking in her features like he’s a man dying of thirst and she’s an oasis he desperately wants to be real.
“Kady?” It’s a whisper. Pleading.
“It’s you,” she whispers in reply. Then her tone shifts by degrees to semi-hysterical laughter: “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me with that goddamn axe?”
“It’s working,” he replies, hefting it, holding it up like a trophy. “I’m doing it. I’m taking AIDAN out one piece at a time. If you can’t reprogram the software, reprogram the hardware, right?”
“Reprogram the …” She shakes her head. “That’s amazing. You’re crazy.”
“And I’m winning. Its self-repair systems can’t keep up with the damage I’m doing. I’m going to save the Hypatia. They’ll build monuments to my name.” He lifts his chin and strikes a pose. “I think they should include the axe, don’t you?”
“Sure, sure.” The relief is still overwhelming her. “You have to finish up, we have to get out of here. I have a shuttle. Ezra’s nearby, they can quarantine you aboard the Hypatia. I thought I was never going to see you again. I thought you’d be dead, or sick, by now.”
“I’ve been hiding,” he replies, stepping back to look the nearest server tower up and down. “I can’t go yet, there’s a lot to do before we can be sure AIDAN is dead. I’ve maimed it, reduced it. Right now it can’t see whole chunks of itself, but it’s still brilliant. Give it enough time, it could think of some way to come back.”
“Come to the Hypatia, we’ll make a run for it,” she replies. “They’re leaving soon. AIDAN can revive itself if it wants, maybe it’ll even slow up the Lincoln.”
“I have to kill it,” he insists, calm, staring at the wrecked and twisted metal before him.
“Byron—”
“And then I have to kill you, Kady.”
Silence. Does not compute.
“Byron?” Her question is softer now, bewildered.
“It’s the only way,” he replies, eminently reasonable. “It’s the only way to be sure. I have to eliminate all threats, so AIDAN can’t recover. If I even leave a seed of it, it’ll grow back. Like a goddamn weed. You’re the only one left who knows as much as I do. You’re the only one who could help it fix itself. This won’t hurt, I promise.”
“Byron, no.” The hope dies in her voice, fading out to a husk, then blowing away. She sees it now. “Please.”
He stares at her for a long moment, then lifts the axe. “Don’t look at me.”
The axe comes down. Sparks. A scream of metal that drowns out her sob.
CURRENT DEATH TOLL ABOARD BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER SINCE ATTACK AT KERENZA:
1,497
PERCENTAGE OF REMAINING BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER PERSONNEL AFFLICTED BY PHOBOS VIRUS
44%
Surveillance footage summary,
prepared by Illuminae Group Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN
Grant is indecisive, rocking back and forth from one foot to the other, dwarfed by her hazmat suit. Zhang seems to have forgotten her existence, laying into a pillar of boards and circuitry with growling ferocity, breath coming in quick gasps, sparks arcing gracefully through the air as metal crashes against metal.
She could try and reason with him. She could run, but this is the place she came to find Ezra Mason. So, face visibly pale through her helmet’s vis screen, she edges out of his line of sight. She still has the pistol in her belt, and her hand strays to it as she shuffles painstakingly back. Perhaps the plan is to fade away and let fate kill Byron Zhang so she won’t have to.
But the helmet limits her peripheral vision, and her foot connects with some metal debris as she eases back—and, of course, it’s between swings for Zhang, and he hears it.
They both go very, very still.
He’s remembered her again.
“Don’t go, Kady,” he says, soft and soothing, turning her way with the axe. “I’ll get to you, wait your turn.”
“N-no.” Her voice wavers. “No, it’s okay, Byron. You don’t have to hurt me. I’ll help you. Won’t it be faster with two? I bet I can find something to do some damage with.”
He smiles, indulgent, and shakes his head. “You’ll run away,” he points out. An instant later his lips thin, and his brows crash together in an accusatory frown. “Don’t look at me. You’re looking at me.”
“I’m sorry.” She averts her gaze, fixing it on Zhang’s feet, so at least she can track him if he moves. Hand still hovering just near the pistol.
“I bet Consuela’s out there trying to undo all this.” He hefts the axe as he paces a few steps away from Kady, then pivots back toward her. “This place could be full of people trying to help AIDAN. It wants to kill us, Kady. I’m the only way we can be saved.”