A/N: Wow, Chapter Nine. Who thought I'd end up writing this many chapters? I grant you, they were short. However, I'm still slightly amazed. The only way I've had the dedication to finish this off is to go on a self-induced, week long internet fast. It's actually really nice, I find myself with extra time to do all sorts of things like writing and gasp homework. Dirty word. Still, I think a break from the information super highway can be rather refreshing, if it can be managed.
"Hello, this is Dita, and I'm calling to turn myself in." He smiled out his windshield when he heard it. Actually, it was closer to a sneer. Marugo was more of the sneering type.
"Seriously?" he said into his cell phone. "No kidding? If this is a prank call…" "No, it's not," she said, sounding firm.
"How do I know?" He didn't, of course. He couldn't have the call traced, it was too dangerous He had tapped the hotline and rerouted all calls to this outdated phone. Marugo had no proof that he was talking to one of the missing persecoms.
"What have you got to loose if I'm lying?" she said. Marugo 's sneer widened. Sharp, this one.
"All right. I'll get your location and upload you the information about where you should go." "Fine." Marugo did some quick work with the cell, and sent the coordinates and description of a meeting place to Dita. "One more thing," she said.
"What's that?" "Zima, the other persecom. He was destroyed a week ago in a car accident. Nothing survived. He's no longer a danger." "Oh- oh, all right. See you there." He hung up.
Marugo stared out the window of his car for a moment, trying to decide if this was a good idea or not, before calling his partner.
"Jo? I just got the call. You know what to do. I'll be there." Marugo started the car, smiling to himself. The girl had had a point- what did they have to loose?
Marie pulled out of her recharge unexpectedly. What the hell was that? The sudden jolt of consciousness, hours before she had been expecting it, surprised her. Marie lay her head back down on her cot. "Run full system check." She felt the checker run through her computer mind. There, there was the problem. A minor virus. Nothing she couldn't handle. There. The rebellious file was deleted. Still, she felt uneasy.
Marie got up off of the cot and pulled on the robe that hung off of a hook on the wall. She left her small room and began to prowl the second floor. She stopped outside of Kameko and Allie's room- both were asleep, their breathing steady. Satisfied on that count, Marie headed downstairs. Nothing their either.
She walked down the stairs to the basement and turned to the closed door of Zima and Dita's room. Marie placed her hand on the knob and turned softly. She looked inside. There was something wrong. She realized what it was in a moment. There was only one figure on the bed, Zima.
Dita was gone.
"Damn."
Dita paused on the steps of the church. Not many things made her uncomfortable. She liked to pretend that nothing did. But there were a few. Churches were one of them.
Dita thought the idea of a religion was silly, nothing but a bunch of fairy stories people told to make themselves feel better or more important. But if there was any truth to it, Dita knew she was not the product of any god. She was the product of humans playing God, plain and simple. On the rare occasion that she stepped into a house of worship, Dita felt as though this fact was being shouted from the rafters.
Dita pulled off one of her gloves. She placed her palm on the glass window of the church door. Her heat sensors told her it was extremely cold, but she didn't feel cold the way a human would. The sensation was not unpleasant. Dita grabbed the door handle, pulled it open, and stepped inside.
Dita walked slowly down the center aisle of the church. The church was empty. That was all right. Someone would be here before long.
Sure enough, she soon heard a door slam from the other end of the church, and saw someone walk inside. As the person walked closer, Dita saw that he was short and heavy set and his pale brown hair was receding quickly from his forehead. She noted that he wasn't dressed to the nines, as most government workers tended to be. Trying not to attract attention, I suppose. The faded blue jeans and threadbare jacket did the job.
The man approached her at last. "Dita, right?" he said.
Dita nodded. "That's me." He cocked his head to the side for a moment. "What happened to your hair?" "I dyed it so I wouldn't match the description." He apparently decided that she passed the test, and said "Come with me. There's a car out back, if you'll just follow me." Dita did as he asked, her mind clicking. I can understand the clothes. But why is he so informal? And why is he alone? Shouldn't there be a couple of them here to restrain me if I decide to fight? I could just make a run for it at any time, and he doesn't look like he could do a whole bunch about it. At least they haven't asked about Zima yet; they seem to have bought my story.
But before Dita could come to any conclusions, they had reached the car. A man was hanging out of the driver's side window. "This her?" he said, jerking his head in Dita's direction.
"So she says," the man with Dita replied.
"Nice to meet you, Dita," the driver said, his voice almost sarcastic. His clothes were of no better quality, and the car was a wreck. "I'm Marugo, this is my partner Jo. Jo, d' ya mind? It's popped." He gestured to the back of the car.
"Right. Come back here." Dita followed Jo. He opened the trunk. "You'll ride back here." "What?" Dita's suspicions were becoming worse. "Why?" "We don't want to attract attention." "You don't look like a government car at all, and no one will recognize-" Before she could finish, Jo, showing an unexpected amount of strength, suddenly shoved her backwards into the open trunk and slammed it shut. She heard Marugo's voice from the front seat. "Watch the merchandise there. That 'com kicks it, and we're out of business for the reward money." "She was suspicious. We would have been out of business if she decided to beat it, too. We don't even know it's the right 'com." "Well, if it's a mistake, I doubt they'll blame us. Let's get going." Dita heard a door slam and the engine start. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. These weren't government workers, they were just a couple of con artists after the reward money. Doesn't matter, she thought. I'll end up in the same place both ways. At least they haven't got Zima. Unless they decide to hack my system some way I don't know about and find out where Zima is so they can bring him in too… Barely realizing it, Dita began to memorize the turns the car took.
"Where is she?" Zima said, the moment he realized that he and Marie were the only two in the room.
"I haven't got any idea. She's not in the house." "What are you talking about? How can she have left? Where the hell- where would she go?" "I was hoping you'd have an idea." Zima swore and jumped out of bed. "I obviously have an idea, but it doesn't happen to be a possibility I'd like to explore." He began pacing angrily around the small space.
"What is it, then?" Zima scowled. "She turned herself in. She would have done it, on the condition that they wouldn't take me as well." "Oh." It made sense to Marie.
Zima swore again. "Did you tell Kameko?" "No. I woke you first." "Go get her. She's all tangled up in this now, she might as well be up. I'll be in the kitchen." A few minutes later, Marie led a grave-faced, bath-robed Kameko into the kitchen. Zima was sitting on a stool, his head bowed, eyes closed, hands clasped, his forehead resting on his two extended index fingers.
"Zima?" Kameko tried.
"What?" he snapped.
"Do you really think she's turned herself in?" "I'm not seeing very many other possibilities, are you?" "Zima, we're trying to help." Kameko sat down on one of the stools. "We have to do something, but I have no idea where to start…" "How about the National Technological Development Headquarters?" Zima said, not moving.
"Why there?" Marie asked.
Zima pulled his head up, snapping his eyes open. "Because that's where the vehicle she's in is headed. I'm connected to her mind still; I know exactly what's going on."
After slightly over an hour of motion, the car stopped. Dita heard doors slam, and she was suddenly being yanked out of the car by Marugo and Jo. She didn't struggle, just took in her surroundings. They were in the parking lot of the National Technological Development Headquarters. It was only seven in the morning, but there were already lights on inside. Dita did nothing but hope they wouldn't be able to use her to trace Zima.
As Jo and Marugo led her towards the front entrance, Dita saw something out of the corner of her eye. No, it couldn't be… they wouldn't dare… how would they know… It was Kameko's car in the parking lot of the NTDH. Dita was seized with fear- had Zima come after her? That was the worst thing that could happen.
Sure enough, the doors opened, and out stepped Zima, Kameko, and Marie. Dita tried to keep her cool, it wouldn't do to alert her captors to Zima's presence. There was no way to warn them.
Jo, Marugo, and Dita were now standing in front of the door. Their presence was detected by a hidden camera, and a voice came through an intercom to the side of the door. "National Technological Development Headquarters. State your name and business please." "Jiro Marugo and Ion Jo," Marugo said into the intercom. "We've found one of the missing persecoms and we're here to turn her in.
The voice on the intercom became excited. "Really? One moment, just one moment please." A few minutes later, a the door slid open automatically to reveal three men. The one in the center was wearing a white lab coat. The two behind him were large and menacing, probably security staff.
"That's her," the man in the white coat said. "Gentlemen, if you'd be so kind as to follow me?" Marugo, Jo, and Dita went through the door. Dita was handed over to one of the guards. Please, Zima, be gone, please understand, there's no point to this, please! In flagrant disregard of this fraught request, Zima was suddenly at her shoulder. "Hello," he said to the man in the white coat. "Remember me? I'm Zima." The man in the white coat looked perplexed but happy. He motioned to the other guard. "Take this one, and all of you, follow me." The door slid shut behind them, and they began to walk down the corridor. The man in the white coat was leading, the two guards along with Dita and Zima followed behind, and Marugo and Jo brought up the rear.
"What are you thinking?" Dita hissed at Zima.
"I could ask the same of you." His apathetic tone made her angry. "I was trying to help you. I was going to go with them on condition that they didn't take you." "That was stupid. I found you because we're linked. They would have found me anyway." "I wasn't going to give up that easy. Why did you have to come here?" Zima shook his head, smiling as though she were an upset child. "What if I hadn't?" he said cryptically.
The man in the white lab coat had ignored this entire exchange. He turned down a corridor and stopped in front of a pair of double doors. "Well, here we are," he said. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"
A/N: Well, damn. That'll ruin you're whole day.
