Ch. 18 - Leah II

"You, sir, deserve the Darwin Award. You may use this gun to receive it to your brain."

– One idiot to another, bigger, idiot

 

***

 

When Leah woke up, she jerked. Everything was nothing. Blackness too perfect. The kind that made hallucinations.

Then she remembered, the shock of the taser, the sting of a needle. Fainting.

Horrid panic cramped her throat and sweat stung inside her face, inside her eyes. Her eyeholes. Weird nothingness when her hands wanted to jerk up and feel the eyeholes. She started shaking.

She couldn't see anything. The emptiness in her left eye socket was familiar, she hadn't had Ypsi replace that eye yet. But the right one, where the cyber-eye should've been, was empty too, and it hurt differently. 

Like she'd been cut with a knife. On the inside. The sweat stung. The old ache fed on her fear and bored backwards into her skull.

There were straps across her chest. She could barely breathe against them.

Leah wanted to scream. But she held still, listening. Trying to hear where she was, what was around her. Her own hyperventilation filled the room, muted everything else.

Leah. Hi! Leah twitched at the voice in her head, but she calmed a little as Ypsi continued in her familiar, well-mannered little girl's voice. I'm afraid we're in trouble.

Leah sucked in another breath and nodded carefully. 

They know you're a samurai. I think that's why they took you! They destroyed any way for you to talk to me. They took your eye and burnt out your augs. But they couldn't remove me without killing you! I'll ask you questions that you can answer by nodding or shaking your head, okay?

Leah's breath came too fast. She could feel herself panicking again, but it was like she was outside of herself. Ypsi's voice helped her think and she nodded, as if she weren't hyperventilating. 

Then, with a gasp, shook her head, twisted it sideways, breathed empty non-words, trying to ask a question.

Ypsi, bless her, understood.

Don't worry! I have the data from your augs. The vid is safe. I have everything!

Leah forced herself to breathe heavy and slow, and tried to relax. It's safe. The tremors in her chest subsided a little.

There'd been no reaction to her sudden movements, as far as she could tell. No sounds around her, nothing. Was she alone? Where was she?

When she tried to move more, she found she couldn't feel much past her shoulders and hips. Only that weird nothingness.

I'm sorry, Leah. They also took your arms and legs.

She had stumps for arms and legs. She started shaking again. She wouldn't be able to move. She had no points, no weapon, and couldn't defend herself.

Leah! Hey, I'm here! And, and, this isn't the first time a samurai got kidnapped! Help is gonna come. Um, there's recordings of you online! If your kidnappers found you, so will other samurai. Nobody has ever kept one caught for very long. It never works, and it won't this time either. Okay, Leah?

Leah was still hyperventilating, but she nodded. She tried to still her heart, calm her breathing. Ypsi's little girl voice stabilized her somewhat. It triggered the part of her that took care of others, that protected and provided. It helped a lot.

Good! Leah, the biggest danger right now, is that they decide to kill you. But, um, that's not gonna happen, because a dead Vanguard doesn't make them money! They'll want things from you, though. Points! I think they don't want you speaking with me so that you can't "waste" any.

Leah could hear the acerbic sarcasm in Ypsi's voice, and loved her for it. Her breathing slowed enough that her chest stopped straining against the strap. Suddenly she could actually draw air.

There was nothing she could do herself. But what she could do, was nothing. So she'd not panic. Not give up. Not surrender. Not give them reason to kill her.

Leah nodded.

Then she thought a bit. Tilted her head.

Ypsilon reacted to that and said, You have thirty points. Tomorrow it'll be forty! Every day, ten more. It's not enough for a good escape right now, but that's just a matter of time. You can escape soon, even if no Vanguard comes. Which they will anyway!

Leah nodded again. Thought again. Tilted her head the other way.

Do you have an idea?

Leah nodded.

Something that doesn't need many points?

Another nod.

For right now?

Sideways waggle.

Maybe?

Nod.

Will you need to move?

Waggle.

A little bit?

Waggle.

Maybe?

Nod.

Does your plan include weapons?

Shake.

Communication?

Strong nod.

Oh, um…a signal?

Nod. Nod.

Do you want to send a signal that the Vanguard looking for you can see, so they'll find you quicker?

Nod.

Umm.

Leah could almost picture an ultra-adorable Ypsi sitting on the floor and cupping her chin in thought, trying to be proper and all polite, getting ready to sell her something with big words. The mental image made her smile, even though it split the skin in the corners of her mouth.

That's a good idea! I have a self-launching, self-displacing flare. It teleports to above the position it launches from, at a variable distance. Even if we're inside a mountain, or in the basement of a skyscraper, the flare can jump high enough to escape it anyway! Unfortunately that's not all cheap, because it comes with a lot of fuel to fly and stick above you. And with special defenses so it can't be shot down by anyone on Earth.

The catalog you need to buy the flare costs fifty points, and the thing itself thirty, but it'll work no matter what! Other things would be a bit cheaper and you could use them sooner, but you can't be sure if they worked. And maybe that's a bad idea right now? It might destabilize you.

Are you okay with waiting two extra days for the flare, over one of the cheaper things in that catalog?

Leah paused, and thought about that. Analyzed herself, how she was feeling, how long she thought she might be able to deal with not knowing where she was, what was going to happen, how to survive…and nodded. Better safe than sorry.

Over the next few days, Ypsi kept Leah company. Kept talking to her and asking her questions. Kept her calm when the uncertainty and vulnerability strangled her.

Ypsi's personality was customized to fit Leah, using the profile Ypsi had on Leah's habits and preferences. She'd told Leah that much when she'd asked her a couple months ago. But Leah had decided to enjoy her presence, what she did for Leah. That's when she started calling her Ypsi.

Ypsi kept her sane, even when panic rattled her as the unknown kidnappers unlocked a door somewhere behind her and walked in her direction. When they forced liquid food down her throat and hooked her up to a beeping machine. When they didn't say a single word the entire time, forced her body to void itself, and just left afterwards.

She kept her sane when they repeated those actions the next day, and the next.

 

***

 

Leah, I think they don't know you get a few points every day? Maybe they're trying to make you feel so small and helpless that you give up, until you won't fight them even once you're making points again. Three more days and we can shoot that flare! Can you hold on for that long?

Tears gathered in her empty eye sockets until they overflowed, but Leah nodded.

If you'd rather, I could give you something to keep you asleep for days, even weeks. It would cost a point and add a day until you can afford the flare, but maybe that doesn't matter?

Leah shook her head violently. She'd want to know the moment the signal went out, wanted to be there. Wanted to know.

So, Ypsi kept distracting her, and Leah kept fighting down the panic and fear, fighting against the weird pictures of misshapen aliens her brain invented because it couldn't see.

Even when she heard them drag something really big past her door on the fifth day.

 

***

 

Leah! You have enough points! It's been six days since you were kidnapped. Do you want to buy and launch it now?

It took her a few seconds to piece Ypsi's words together. She'd been feeling more and more…unbound. Unsteady, delirious, faint. But the moment she understood, Leah would've screamed in relief if she'd still had a voice. Instead she just nodded. Then she froze, and waggled her head instead.

Um, something you want to ask?

Nod.

Okay. Does it have to do with the signal itself?

Waggle.

Sort of? The projectile?

Shake.

The launcher?

Nod.

Um. Oh! If they will notice?

Waggle, nod, waggle.

I can modify the launch so it won't be heard.

Strong Nod. Then another waggle.

You want to make sure they won't discover it, right?

Double nod.

I can teleport in the launcher beneath the bed we're in! The flare can go past it as easy as whatever stuff is above us. Since they always enter from behind your head, I'll put it a little bit in the other direction, to be safe. Then, tomorrow, I can make it disappear for one point! Is that okay?

Leah held still. Waggled her head.

Uh…it's okay, but we're not launching now? 

Cute, cute Ypsi. She felt parched and her skin was really dry. It hurt when it broke again as Leah smiled. She ignored the dribs of blood welling up in the corners of her mouth.

Nod.

Okay. I'll do it tomorrow then, exactly when you get the next ten points, so I can make the launcher disappear immediately. Is that better?

Double nod.

For the first time since she woke up from the blackout, Leah felt a little bit better again. For the rest of the day, it was much easier to hold back the fear and uncertainty, and the damn beeping of the damn machine. They were going to finally do something. And Ypsilon was still there, talking to her the entire time, keeping her mind busy.

Then, it finally happened. Ypsilon counted down the last minute for her, and there was a very quiet whoosh when she hit zero.

 

Class I Search and Rescue Utilities unlocked!
Points reduced to... 40
New Purchase: 'Highlight' Self-Launching Self-Displacing Flare
Points reduced to... 10
New Purchase: Garbage Disposal
Points reduced to... 9

 

It's done! The flare is out, showing exactly where we are! Now we only have to wait for someone to come, Leah, or until we can escape anyways.

They noticed. Only minutes after the launch, somebody lurched into the room and yelled for another person to come.

Leah twitched at that. Hearing a voice other than Ypsi's had become a foreign and shocking experience. Uncanny.

A second person stormed in and angrily shouted, "What?!" A woman this time. They began whispering to each other. Leah vibrated with jittery fear and panic and hope. She was properly starting to shake, right up until she heard a third person…grind their teeth? It was loud in the near silence.

A beat of silence. Leah's heart hammered painfully in her chest. 

There was a sudden, quiet scuffle, followed by cracks of breaking bones like gunshots in the silence. 

An aborted scream from the first woman, the one who'd shouted 'what' earlier, and then two heavy thuds, one after the other.

Another beat of silence.

Then, quick, light steps towards her. Leah tensed. Another shocked breath, a tiny cry, sniffling, and wet drops on her face while some kind of feathery things brushed across it. 

Leah jerked away, but the girl quietly made shushing noises and said in a watery whisper, "Hey, I'm Tinea. You're okay. I'll help you out of here. I'm a samurai, I can help you with your eyes and stuff. Here, this is my hand."

A small and warm hand cupped Leah's cheek, and a thumb slowly stroked across her cheekbone. It was so gentle on her thirst-burned skin, so disarming, that Leah started sobbing tonelessly. And the woman, Tinea, cradled Leah against her chest, hugged her tight, and softly stroked her hair.

 

***