"Here we are."
Patty and Spike stood by as Angela disabled her Device and then tapped a quick code into the computer by the door. It did not escape them, the fact that Angela knew the password to the System Maintenance Room. But, at that moment, it seemed trivial in the face of what they were about to do. The door slid open and Angela insisted that ladies should enter first before pushing her way in front of Patty. She cast a glance at Spike before following her roommate into the dimly lit room. The look on her face was resolute, but also nervous and Spike wondered if she was truly prepared for what they might - or might not - find.
A large screen took up the entirety of the far wall. Machinery hummed and buzzed all around them. Several doors branched off of the main room, and in the corner closest to the farthest door, there was a dark stain on the wall. Patty thought back to the news of the suicide that had happened in that very same room and she shivered.
"Well," she said, hugging her coat tightly around her, "if I was a System Record book, where would I be?"
"Probably behind one of these doors," Spike said. He opened one at random and then closed it abruptly. "Maybe not that one."
Angela opened another door and peered in at a room full of multicolor wires and metal boxes. She was contemplating ways to discreetly get her hands on Patty's written Record when suddenly there was a cry from the opposite end of the room.
"Guys! I think I found it!"
Angela and Spike ran towards Patty and stopped before the open door. Beyond it was a room even larger than the one that they were in. It was filled as far as the eye could see with thick books coated in dust and green plastic. Multiple ladders were strung about the room, climbing the multi-storied shelves to the ceiling. It was the Record Room, containing handwritten copies of every Patchwork repair log since the colonization of Earth 2.0. There were tens of thousands of books, and as the three gazed upon the many shelves their hearts suddenly felt very heavy in their chests.
Angela was the first to step into the room. She took a book off the shelf at random and leafed through it. "Looks like they're arranged by towns," she said, pulling another one off of the shelf and comparing the two.
"So we gotta find New New New York. Spike-"
"Already on it."
Patty looked over and was delighted to find that he had rolled up his sleeves and was already combing through a pile of books. She blew the dust off of the cover of one book and began her search, her brow furrowing as she read.
The moon did a slow arc in the sky as they searched the entire library. It became hot in the System Maintenance Room and they shed their heavy coats. They didn't know when the guards would awaken from their forced nap, or if they were awake already. But the more they searched, the more desperate they became. Finding the right Record would dictate what would happen once they faced the outside world again. Patty began to move frantically, flinging books off of the shelf and leafing rapidly through pages with cramped fingers. She was begging to think that all hope was lost when suddenly Spike cried out.
"Got it!" He said. The women climbed over piles of books and crowded behind him. He flashed a set of brilliant white teeth and held a single book in the air. Patty snatched it from him and he frowned. "You're welcome," he said but she was busy leafing through the pages, her eyes skipping back and forth over the inky black letters. Angela watched her from a few feet away, her jaw jumping as she ground her teeth together. Spike had moved away and was leafing through a new book. A sheaf of papers fluttered to the floor and he reached down to retrieve it.
Patty paused. Her hand hovered over a single page and then flew to her mouth.
"Jumping Jehovah," she whispered, a grin slowly spreading over her features. She rustled back and forth between a couple of pages and her smile grew. "Fudge 'n apple sticks, I can't believe it."
"What is it?" Angela asked anxiously. Spike was busy reading the paper that he had grabbed from the floor. Patty pointed to a bullet point on the page and Angela moved up behind her to read it.
"Earth 2.0, year 2071. Donald Lee, Classification: Harmful. Footnote: on trial for the death of Jarred Penniman" she said in a shaking voice. She turned the pages to reveal a new file with her picture. "Same year, 2071. Patricia LaVelle, Classification: Detecting. See footnote. Angie, do you know what this means?"
"It's physical proof that your files were switched," Angela said in a soft voice.
"During a System repair that happened around the same time as the suicide of the maintenance repairman! Angie, can't you see! This paints an even clearer picture! It's not much, but I can build a case around my innocence in a court of law. Angie, look!"
"I don't believe you," Angela said, crossing her arms.
"Wha-? You're so obstinate. Look, it says it right there!" Patty thrust the book into Angela's arms. Her eyes narrowed as she read the tiny text. Sure enough, proof of foul play was spelled out across the pages. And it was enough proof to raise questions that could easily be answered if one were to make the final, damning connection. Angela pretended to read as she walked away. She bumped into Spike and looked at him with hard eyes.
"Can I have a cigarette?" Her voice was clogged with fear and she struggled to get the words out. He looked up from the paper in his hands as if in a daze and reached in his pocket.
"Wouldn't have put you down as a smoker," he said, handing her the box. She put a cigarette between her lips and shrugged. The filter was immediately shredded between her teeth
"No better time to start. Your lighter."
He handed her the lighter and she walked away, still carrying the Record book. Patty spun in a circle and clapped her hands.
"Thank you God Almighty! Thank you, Satan! Thank you Orishas, thank you, Zeus," she sang grandly, unable to drop the smile on her lips. She ran to Spike and clasped him in her arms before planting a big, wet kiss on his forehead. "And thank you, Spike Almighty! I couldn't have done it without y-" she stopped suddenly. She had seen the look on his face, even though he had tried to hide it by averting his eyes.
"Something's wrong…" Her eyes fell to the crumpled paper in his hand and then shot back up to his face. He was acting suspicious and didn't seem at all concerned with their success in retrieving her Record. "What's that?" She asked, gesturing with her chin to the paper behind his back.
He was silent for a long time. She could tell that he was debating whether or not to tell her the truth. He frowned deeply and then looked back up at her. "I was wondering why every Patch that included your name said 'see footnote.' "
She was beginning to understand. Her heart leaped in her throat and her next words were strangled. "Spike…" she said, her lips curled in a snarl. Her tone implied that she was reasoning with him, for the time being.
"Turns out there was a footnote."
"What does it say? What-"
"Patty. You might not be ready for-"
"Spike!" She howled. She marched right up to him and hissed in his face, "what the fuck is in my redacted file?!"
He didn't flinch. He didn't move a single inch, not even when her spit landed on the collar of his suit. His two-toned eyes never left hers and he began to speak slowly, so slowly that his demeanor turned reproachful. "June seventh, 2057. You were on your way back from getting your Device implanted. Your mother was there."
She stumbled back. The world before her began to shift and blur. As he spoke, her mind moved slowly as if a heavy wool blanket had been thrown over her brain. She raised her hand for no other reason than to ascertain that she was still there, with him, but her fingers had begun to feel disjointed and odd. And still, he spoke.
"You stopped at a gas station on the edge of town. The name was Mini Mart. It had blue banners and a statue of a laughing cow. Do you remember now? Patricia? Patricia? Patty…"
"Pattycake!"
She opened her eyes and looked up into her mother's face. The woman seemed so tall that she blocked out the sun. Her kinky brown hair was ringed in a yellow halo, making her seem even more beautiful than Patty remembered.
"Daydreaming again?" Her mother asked. Patty forced herself to look away. They were in the middle of nowhere, standing before a blue-bannered gas station bearing the neon name 'Mini Mart.' Sand stung her nose as she breathed in deep. She knew this place. She remembered the smell of tar and sweat and her mother's hair gel. And she remembered the feeling of utter, and complete horror that was beginning to descend upon her. She placed her tiny hand in her mother's and allowed herself to be guided towards the door. They were blasted by a gust from the air conditioner as the glass doors shrieked open. Her mother cast a dazzling, red-rimmed smile at the cashier as they moved towards the candy aisle
"What were you dreaming about?" Came her softly accented voice as she observed the wrapper of a candy bar.
"I'm gonna be a singer when I grow up," Patty said. Her voice was thin and high-pitched, that of a twelve-year-old girl.
"That's right, mamas. And you wanna know why you have those dreams?" Her mom frowned and put the candy back. "So much sugar," she said under her breath before retrieving a soda pop can from the fridge.
"Because I'm named after the great Patti LaBelle! Earth's bestestmostbestest singer ever!"
"You got it, sugarplum. Here, what do you think? BannaMint or LemonCherryZest?"
Her mother bent down and held two soda pop cans in front of her. Patty thought for a moment and then pushed both cans into the handbasket. Her mother laughed - a lush, tickling sound that made the people in the gas station pause - and squeezed Patty's chin. "What a little diplomat. But I think-"
There was a sudden commotion as the doors to the gas station squeaked open. Red and blue lights erupted in the storefront window as a disheveled man launched himself into a display case. The gas station patrons screamed and ducked as bottles went scattering and smashing across the floor. The man stood up and swung his arm in an arc, the metal of a sharp dagger flashing in his hand.
"I'm so sick and tired of it!"
Patty screamed and clutched her mother's side as the man made an awkward jab at the cashier. Police sirens wailed as he crashed through the store, striking out blindly at everything in his path.
"Fuck the System, fuck everything, man!" His wild, red-strung eyes settled upon her and he lurched forward. Patty watched in horror as he grabbed her mother's arm and pulled her away. He braced the edge of the knife against her neck and began to shout incoherently. "Day in, day out! It's Harmful this, and Harmful that. I didn't even do anything! So what, a man wants to drink and smoke, it's his prerogative, alright!"
"Mama!"
"Patricia, baby, it's okay," her mother smiled at her and the man gave her body a rough shake. The doors flew open again and a group of policemen wielding guns stormed into the room. The man put her mother into a headlock and dragged her backward, deeper into the store.
"I'm not doing this anymore!" He howled, spit flying from his lips.
"Josipa Wells! Drop the blade! Now!"
"Mama!" Patty wailed again. A woman grabbed her and dragged her away from the commotion. She whispered words in Patty's ear that she did not hear over the sound of her own desperate howling. "Let my mommy go!"
"The System is a bitch, you hear me?! It's a bitch!"
"Drop the blade! This is your last warning."
"Look at me, Patricia. No, look at me, not him," her mother's voice was shaking as she spoke. The man squeezed her and she briefly closed her watering eyes. "Go to the car, sugarplum, I'll meet you there in a second."
"Ain't nobody should have to suffer this - nobody!"
"Josipa Wells!"
"Please, sir, you don't have to do this," her mother was muttering, as if in prayer, "you see my daughter over there? She's only twelve years old. She needs her mother."
"It's a bitch…" the man was crying now, repeating the same words over and over again. He buried his nose in her mother's neck. "I wanna get out."
"I know you do," her mother said. Tears were running down her face and streaking her makeup. She was using her church voice, the one reserved gentle recitations and praises of the lord. "But you can't fight it like this. You can't fight it when you're in jail. Please, there are people who will help you."
"...I wanna die," his arm dropped and the blade swung uselessly at his side. His shoulders jumped as he sobbed into her mother's blouse. The police kept their guns trained on him. Everyone waited with bated breath for someone to make the next move.
"You don't wanna die, sugar, I know you don't. You just want the injustice to stop. Please, I know you're a good man. I know the System did you wrong."
"I-"
Patty lunged. The sudden movement made the man whip his head up. Startled, he fastened his hand around the handle of the blade and jolted it upward. Her mother gave a surprised yelp and Patty screamed. But the sound of her horror was drowned out by the firing of the police guns. There was chaos and madness in the store as everybody steamed, gun smoke exploded in the air, and her mother crumpled onto the floor.
"Mama! Mama! Mama!"
"Mama! Mama! Please! Wake up, mama, wake up!"
She was screaming - no, she was trying to scream. Someone was holding their hand over her mouth. She struggled mightily against the strong arms wrapped around her until they let go and she threw herself onto her hands and knees. Her chest heaved and she vomited all over the tiled floor.
"Easy there, easy," a man's voice sounded from above her. A large hand came to rest on her shoulder and she shuddered. "I'm right here."
The voice. She knew that voice. She inhaled deeply and pushed herself up on her tingling hands. Her legs threatened to collapse beneath her and she fell into Spike's waiting arms.
"Are you okay?" He asked. His face loomed before her. It went in and out of focus with every breath. She nodded and then shook her head. She barely even knew where she was. How was she supposed to know if she was okay? He gently guided her back onto the floor and held her steady as she tried to find her bearings.
"I remember what happened," she said. "I remember everything."
"I know. I'm sorry. Hey, look at me. You're alright. You're here now. Look at me,"
She did as she was told and stared into his eyes until the edges of her vision sharpened and she felt grounded in reality. It had been said that Spike had a way of looking at people, like he could see right through them. 'Haunting' was one way that it had been described, 'unearthly' was another. Her hand found his arm and she sighed her gratitude.
"I think I know what happened," he said carefully, "The police shot Josipa Wells. He died en route to the hospital. And your mother…"
"It's okay. You can say it."
"She didn't make it. You had only just gotten your Device implanted, right? I'm guessing it didn't know how to read the situation. In the eyes of the AI, you were the indirect cause of the death of two people."
"All because I got spooked," she murmured. She yanked her chin and squeezed her eyes shut, "fuck, man!"
"You reacted in a way that any twelve-year-old would in that situation. But Patty, listen. I don't think the System was ever able to decide how to classify you on that day. That's why your Classification was stuck on 'Detecting' for all those years - that's why that part of your file was redacted. And, more importantly, that's why-"
"-the System branded me a serial murder when I was framed for the death of Donald Lee. It picked up on the two deaths in my file. As far as it's concerned, I killed three people."
"But you didn't."
"I...didn't?" she said, looking up at him. His eyes were a warm sort of brown that reminded her of sunlight shining through a stained glass window. He shook his head. The next words that he said were the ones that would forever solidify her love for him, deep down in her heart.
"You're just a human who got a bad deck of cards. Just like me." His nose twitched suddenly and he sniffed. "Hey. You smell that?"
"Yeah, something's burning. Angie!"
They jumped up at the same time and ran towards Angela. But it was too late. Patty gave a gut-wrenching wail and fell to her knees, her dreadlocks clutched between her fingers.
"No no no no NO!" She slapped at the burning pile of papers with her bare hands. When that didn't work, she grabbed her jacket and tried to smother the flames. Angela smiled and threw Spike's lighter high in the air.
"So much for your records," she said, catching it with a cool swipe of her hand. Patty reared up and made a move to grab her, but Spike was quick to hold her back.
"I swear on my mother's life, I'll kill you. You hear me? I will destroy you!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs, tears running down her face and splattering onto her dress. "You know that was the only way that I'd ever be able to prove my innocence! What is wrong with you? Are you insane?"
Angela wrapped her arm around her stomach and laughed. Smoke from the burning Record papers curled around her face and she pointed at Patty. "Me? Insane? I'm not the one who got my mother killed!"
"Grrr...let me go, Spike! I'm gonna tear this woman's face off!"
"Patty! Hold on! Just wait a second, will you?" Somehow, through all of her shoving and scratching, Spike was able to reach into his pocket and press a button on a small mobile device that he always kept in his pocket. A red light flashed and one of the device's lesser-known functions began to operate. "I'll let you do anything that you want to her. Just, let me ask her a question."
"I don't have time for questions-"
"Trust me, you do." He threw her back and put a hand up to stop her. "JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE, OKAY?!"
"One. Minute," she said and rolled her gloves higher on her arms.
"Thanks. Now you," he said, turning to face Angela, "I just have one question. There's no use trying to hide anything anymore. You won. The odds are in your favor. Proof of Patricia's innocence went up in smoke, and if she's lucky she might just get life in prison."
"WHAT?" Patty yelled.
He put his finger to his lips and shushed her. "After today, you'll probably be able to walk away from this with no more than that pretty black eye that Patty gave you. So tell me. What's your birth name, the one you had before you got married?"
Angela stared at him. Then, she cocked her head and smiled. "My name is Misses Angela Bedelia Williams, née Lee."
"Lee…?" Patty said in confusion. Spike looked back at her with a tense frown.
"Sound familiar?"
Patty gasped. "You're related to Donald Lee? The man who killed Jarred Penniman?"
"I am."
"So...what? What does that mean?"
Angela put a hand to her head and laughed heartily. "It means you've been played, Patricia, you stupid cow." Suddenly, she stuck her hand beneath her belt and whipped out the gun. Simultaneously, a low mechanical whir emitted from Patty's Device. Angela aimed at her forehead.
"The Merit Society - System Classification Record," said a robotic female voice, [Rebooting...Please Wait…]"
Her Device had turned on.
Patty whimpered in fear at the sound. She quickly reached beneath her coat and withdrew the gun that she had stolen from the Officer. Hands heavy, she leveled it at her roommate. Her eyes glittered with raging anticipation that neither Spike nor Angela had ever seen before.
"Record for Patricia Tonette LaVelle," cooed the disembodied voice, "Classification: Harmful. Lawful Status: Wanted. Please remain where you are. The authorities will be with you shortly."
She reached in her pocket with her other hand and was dismayed to find that the magnetic strip that she had been using to disable her Device wasn't there. It was still buried beneath a pile of sand miles away near the forest where she and Spike had rendezvoused with Bennet and his crew. But she didn't know that.
"Spike…" Patricia said.
A sharp click echoed through the room. Angela's shoulders tensed and she frowned as the cold barrel of his gun pressed against the back of her head.
"Speak," was all that he said.
Angela giggled and momentarily loosened her grip on her gun, "My, my. When I said I wanted a threesome, I didn't mean for it to be like this."
A loud siren sound began to ring out from Patty's Device. The lights in the System Maintenance room turned red and began to flash. A horn blared throughout the System Maintenance sector, alerting all guards to the presence of a disturbance within the area. A cool stream of sweat rolled from Patty's forehead and onto the tip of her nose. She licked her dry lips and steadied her hands. Her sight was set on the middle of Angela's chest.
"They're onto us, Spike," she said in a hollow voice. His fingers were pale on his trigger.
"Tick-tock," he said to Angela.
"Donald Lee is my baby brother," she said. Her eyes seemed to bore holes into Patty's soul, and yet the cold smile never left her lips. "I saw on the news one day that he was wanted for the death of a man in a barroom brawl. He's a soft kid, I couldn't let him stand trial or, worse, go to jail. So I did what I had to do. I went home and I stole your credentials from the Burn Pile."
"Why me?" Patty asked. They could hear voices approaching from down the hall.
"Because I assumed that I'd need your credentials to break into your file. You were the only person whose credentials I had direct access to. Plus, both you and Donald lived in the same town, which means you were a part of the same Patch. I used my feminine charm to get the Maintenance man Dany Demspon to tell me everything that he knew about switching files. And when that was done I shot him so that no one would know that I had been in the building that day."
"It wasn't a suicide."
"No, it wasn't. It was me doing what I had to do. I copied down your information and rebooted the System, using the Repair method. I intended to copy down your Record word for word in my brother's file. That way, he'd be logged as innocent in the System's eyes, and you...I planned to put his Record under your name so that it would seem like you were wanted for the death of Penniman. But I fucked it up. I tried to use a copy-and-paste function, which jammed the System and corrupted your files. It only partially copied information into each file, which is why I'm assuming that Redacted business stayed under your name. God," Angela looked away briefly, "if only I had taken the time down to do it right we wouldn't be here. But no matter. My brother's name had been cleared and yours had been sullied. I planned to just wait for the government to hunt you down and get rid of you. But then you appeared on our doorstep that one night and I...I faltered."
"You disabled my advice."
"I gave in to my weakness. Because, deep down, Patty, I knew that you were my roommate and my best friend. And roommates always come first." Angela opened her eyes and glanced back at Patty with renewed hatred. "But not anymore. I can't risk the truth getting out. I'm not letting my baby brother go to jail, nuh-uh, no can do. And if it means killing you myself I'll do it, I swear to God, I'll do it."
Patty screamed as Angela's hands tightened around the gun. There was a pounding at the door followed by a male voice demanding to be let in. A shudder ran through Angela's body and her cheeks ballooned out. Laughter came tumbling out of her lips as soon as she opened her mouth. All that Patty and Spike could do was stare in shock as the woman convulsed as if by madness, her body wriggling in place beneath the force of her glee. A high-pitched scream tore its way out of her lungs and she threw her head back.
"I have a better idea. You wanna know the worst fate in the world?" She said, turning towards Spike. "It's losing someone you love!"
A single shot rang out. Spike's eyes widened in horror as he was splattered with blood. "Shit," he cried out and began to run as fast as he could.