Divided Worlds Trilogy 01 - Disconnect by Imran Siddiq Page B

a blank page that’s been painted black.”
    “It’s not all empty. We have piles of things out there.”
    Rosa grinned. “I meant empty metaphorically.”
    Zachary nodded, pretending to understand.
    Her lips rehearsed without sound. “Are you always alone? Do you have any friends?”
    “Just Patch. My Haulage-404 droid.”
    “That’s kind of like me and Alice.”
    “No way. Patch’s got one arm, no legs, and one working eye. He’s just good at decorating our wall at home. I turn him on, now and again.”
    Rosa face squirmed. “A part-time friend then.”
    “ Zachary! ” yelled a husky voice. Diego. He sounded close.
    Pinning himself against an overturned digger, he peered outward. He couldn’t let the recruit see him with the Raptor.
    Zachary grimaced. “I have to go.”
    Rosa’s face shuddered. “What’s wrong? Is there someone coming? You look like you’re about to cry.”
    Diego’s voice rang out again. Closer.
    Zachary clenched his teeth. “Can you still call me if I wipe the memory?”
    “Not if you’re going to act like this. What have I done? I thought we were getting along.” Rosa sat back, spreading her arms. Her buttoned shirt stretched across her shoulders.
    “You haven’t done anything.”
    “Then why the hurry to wipe the memory?”
    “Because you want me to, don’t you?” he snapped.
    “Fine. The password is FAIL. F. A. I. L. Go to the Settings screen and enter that code again in the Memory Reset Section. That’ll wipe the memory and deactivate the locator beacon.”
    Zachary stuttered. “You have a locator beacon in here?”
    “All Intercoms do.”
    His hand trembled around the Raptor. It could be transmitting his position at this very moment. “Who knows I’ve got this?”
    “No one, apart from me and Alice. We haven’t notified anybody of it being missing. It’s not like patrollers are going to storm in.”
    “Patrollers?”
    “Stop worrying about it.”
    “ Stop worrying? I shouldn’t be speaking with you.” Zachary looked through the cracks of the vehicles. Where was the recruit?
    “I shouldn’t have called.” Rosa shut her eyes. “Just wipe the Raptor. Wipe it.”
    Her arm bolted forward, and then the blue haze of her figure disappeared.
    She was gone.
    Weakened warm sensations pulsed under Zachary’s thumb as he pushed the Raptor against his cheek. Had he overreacted? Rosa asked him to trust her. She said that she hadn’t activated the locator beacon, but she should have told him about the locators at the start.
    “There you are,” announced Diego, skidding to a halt next to the vehicles.
    Heart lunging from his chest, Zachary yelped. He rammed the Intercom into his coat pocket.
    Diego waved his tar-mucked hands. “Where have you been?”
    “I told you. I had to see someone.” Zachary left the vehicles.
    “What, here?” queried Diego, looking back to the rusty stack.
    “Someplace else. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been to see them.” Zachary changed the subject. “Find anything else?”
    As if on cue, the ceiling-embedded turbines spun clockwise. He patted Diego’s arm to observe the jutting domes. Two other turbines, a hundred metres from those above, spun. Within seconds, ten more joined in, adding to the increased vapour of particles.
    “How many drops a day are there?” asked Diego.
    Unease chilled Zachary. “Usually one.”
    Triangular sections of the ceiling, one by one, ejected downward sending multiple wide beams of light into the Wastelands. Bewildered, Zachary covered his eyes, peering upward. Was this a malfunction?
    “It’s everywhere,” he said, pointing to the sections beaming down beyond the hills into the residential areas.
    Tiny shapes, clustered to the centre, rolled out of the ceiling. They scattered further apart. Floating closer, their nature became clear; sheets of paper.
    “This isn’t normal,” remarked Zachary, clasping the first sheet within reach.
    The light from above slimmed to darkness as the triangular