her brain. Both our
parents are convinced this glitch will kill her some day.
I don’t
get why they’re so protective of her.
I’m
jealous. Why didn’t I get the same implants Akaela got?
A dark
shadow crosses the sky and squawks.
Kael .
I whistle
and he veers elegantly in the air. I step back, pull the vines out of the way, and
wave at him to come over. Kael swoops inside, flapping his wide wings, his movements
stilted and awkward as soon as he touches the ground. He hops toward the back
and then looks at me with his beak half-open.
Lukas is focused
on the screen of his data feeder, blue light outlining his narrow face. “We
need to make a map,” he says.
I whistle
to Kael. “Fancy some dinner, buddy?” I pull a dead rat out of a plastic bag and
drop it on the floor. Kael rabidly jumps on it, tearing off pieces of flesh
with his sharp beak. “That’ll keep him busy for a while.”
“Good,” Lukas
says. “Because I need some time.” He slides a cloth pouch out of his satchel
and carefully unfolds it: inside are tiny little tools like tweezers,
screwdrivers, and a bunch of RAM and circuit modules.
I sit
across from him and watch as he thumbs the screen of his data feeder. “Where’d
you find all that stuff?”
“Around. Mostly at the landfill. I told you I can find stuff out
there, you just got impatient the other day.” He slides a pair of pliers out of
the pouch and threatens me with a stern look. “Pop your eye out.”
I stare at
the sharp looking pliers and wonder if this is such a good idea. “Are you sure
about this?”
“Of course
not,” Lukas says. Sometimes I wish the kid wouldn’t be so annoyingly rational
all the time. “I told you we should ask Uli or my uncle to do this.”
“We can’t.
They’ll never approve of any of this. We could get killed, and adults don’t deal
well with that. Messes up their birthday calendar.”
Lukas
smirks and shows me his empty hand. “Well then, what’s an eye when you could
lose your life?”
Can’t
argue with that logic. I pinch my right eyelid, lift it and pop the eyeball
with my other hand. Lukas grabs the wire and helps me unwind its full length.
“We’ll
include a transmitter,” he says. “I would deactivate it for now. Just in case.”
“Hell, Lukas,
stop reminding me how wrong this could go and just tell me you know what you’re
doing.” I flip open the flap on my forearm and deactivate the eye, cutting in
half my field of vision.
“I do know
what I’m doing,” Lukas protests. “But I can’t guarantee—”
“Just do
it,” I say.
He snips
off the wire that connects my right eye to my brain and then works on
assembling the transmitter.
“See
this?” he says, proudly showing me a little silver cube. “I got this from an
old radio. It’s a 30MHz crystal oscillator. The images won’t be perfect, but
it’ll be good enough.”
“I’m used
to perfect vision.”
“Well then
use your other eye.”
“You’re so
funny, Lukas.”
“I wasn’t
trying to be funny.”
Together,
we encase my right eye into a little camera box, and then solder on top the
transmitter he’s made with the oscillator from the radio. After we connect both
the receiver and his data feeder to my USB ports, I reactivate my eye and test
the camera. Satisfied that both my brain and his data feeder can visualize the pixels
coming in, we move to the next part of the plan, which Lukas happily leaves to
me.
Kael’s
been sloppily banqueting on the dead rat. When he’s finished, he hops over and
lets me ruffle his tail feathers. I croon softly to get him to cooperate as I
pin the makeshift camera to the ring around his right ankle.
“Now don’t
you go and lose this, Kael, or I might kill you.”
I’m not
even sure he gets my words, but the bird bobs his head and squeals. I rub his
head with the tip of my index finger, then don my training glove and let him
hop on my arm. Back on the ledge, the night sky looks silver bathed in
parents are convinced this glitch will kill her some day.
I don’t
get why they’re so protective of her.
I’m
jealous. Why didn’t I get the same implants Akaela got?
A dark
shadow crosses the sky and squawks.
Kael .
I whistle
and he veers elegantly in the air. I step back, pull the vines out of the way, and
wave at him to come over. Kael swoops inside, flapping his wide wings, his movements
stilted and awkward as soon as he touches the ground. He hops toward the back
and then looks at me with his beak half-open.
Lukas is focused
on the screen of his data feeder, blue light outlining his narrow face. “We
need to make a map,” he says.
I whistle
to Kael. “Fancy some dinner, buddy?” I pull a dead rat out of a plastic bag and
drop it on the floor. Kael rabidly jumps on it, tearing off pieces of flesh
with his sharp beak. “That’ll keep him busy for a while.”
“Good,” Lukas
says. “Because I need some time.” He slides a cloth pouch out of his satchel
and carefully unfolds it: inside are tiny little tools like tweezers,
screwdrivers, and a bunch of RAM and circuit modules.
I sit
across from him and watch as he thumbs the screen of his data feeder. “Where’d
you find all that stuff?”
“Around. Mostly at the landfill. I told you I can find stuff out
there, you just got impatient the other day.” He slides a pair of pliers out of
the pouch and threatens me with a stern look. “Pop your eye out.”
I stare at
the sharp looking pliers and wonder if this is such a good idea. “Are you sure
about this?”
“Of course
not,” Lukas says. Sometimes I wish the kid wouldn’t be so annoyingly rational
all the time. “I told you we should ask Uli or my uncle to do this.”
“We can’t.
They’ll never approve of any of this. We could get killed, and adults don’t deal
well with that. Messes up their birthday calendar.”
Lukas
smirks and shows me his empty hand. “Well then, what’s an eye when you could
lose your life?”
Can’t
argue with that logic. I pinch my right eyelid, lift it and pop the eyeball
with my other hand. Lukas grabs the wire and helps me unwind its full length.
“We’ll
include a transmitter,” he says. “I would deactivate it for now. Just in case.”
“Hell, Lukas,
stop reminding me how wrong this could go and just tell me you know what you’re
doing.” I flip open the flap on my forearm and deactivate the eye, cutting in
half my field of vision.
“I do know
what I’m doing,” Lukas protests. “But I can’t guarantee—”
“Just do
it,” I say.
He snips
off the wire that connects my right eye to my brain and then works on
assembling the transmitter.
“See
this?” he says, proudly showing me a little silver cube. “I got this from an
old radio. It’s a 30MHz crystal oscillator. The images won’t be perfect, but
it’ll be good enough.”
“I’m used
to perfect vision.”
“Well then
use your other eye.”
“You’re so
funny, Lukas.”
“I wasn’t
trying to be funny.”
Together,
we encase my right eye into a little camera box, and then solder on top the
transmitter he’s made with the oscillator from the radio. After we connect both
the receiver and his data feeder to my USB ports, I reactivate my eye and test
the camera. Satisfied that both my brain and his data feeder can visualize the pixels
coming in, we move to the next part of the plan, which Lukas happily leaves to
me.
Kael’s
been sloppily banqueting on the dead rat. When he’s finished, he hops over and
lets me ruffle his tail feathers. I croon softly to get him to cooperate as I
pin the makeshift camera to the ring around his right ankle.
“Now don’t
you go and lose this, Kael, or I might kill you.”
I’m not
even sure he gets my words, but the bird bobs his head and squeals. I rub his
head with the tip of my index finger, then don my training glove and let him
hop on my arm. Back on the ledge, the night sky looks silver bathed in
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