woman.”
“My what?”
“Questions. Your turn.”
“Oh.” Lilith glanced over at me and I grinned. She scowled and tapped her fingers on the screen. Messages I couldn’t read from my seat. The chair she sat in reclined and Lilith laid back with pale arms folded behind her head.
“What if I want to save it for later?”
She giggled when I poked her in the arm. “Gotta do it now, smart ass.”
“You might regret that you know.”
“Nope. Don’t regret anything.”
Lilith turned her head to face me. “Really?”
I nodded. “Nobody should, if they thought well and proper about what choice to pick. Every choice was something you wanted at one point.”
“Hmm, makes sense when you put it like that. Well, I have one. What do you think of the Akhataree? Markin hates them. I’m not sure why, though.”
The question took me off guard and I shifted my feet around. I’d expected her to ask about my background, but not that.
“I read your file. I know about your unit going missing.”
By the Ahka, the woman didn’t forget a thing did she?
“Not missing, but non-existent now.”
Lilith squinted at me. “Is that why you ran?”
“Mmhm. Found out something I shouldn’t have.” I drummed my fingers on the Mercury’s smooth dashboard. “I don’t want to be deleted.”
“What do you mean by deleted?”
Suppose there’s no reason I shouldn’t tell her what happened. Only fair. As far as I knew the Akha didn’t expect me to survive out here.
“They were removed. Gone. No one remembers them, not even their families. Erased out of the world system just like a file.”
Lilith frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? How could you delete a person?”
“You know those crackpot conspiracies that people like Markin talk about? About how the Akha are lying to us? It’s true. There’s more going on and I don’t know what. But I know people just disappearing from history ain’t normal. I’m the only one that remembers these guys after what we saw. It’s like they never existed!”
I was shaking my head while Lilith just stared open mouthed. “What the fuck? What did you see to make them want to kill you off?”
“Me and another guy, we overheard a Phoenix agent talking about the last day before the Restore.” Lilith opened her mouth but I raised a palm to stop her. “Sorry. Phoenix are the contingent the Akhataree put on Earth to manage us. Ego, she’s a Phoenix too.”
“Oh,” she replied with a nod. “I always thought it was weird that nobody ever questioned what happened on the last day. Especially when no human knows.”
“Right. Well it’s complicated. They were talking in Akha so we only caught bits and pieces when they mentioned names. We passed it off as random alien chatter until the people in my unit started disappearing. I thought something wasn’t right about it and told my soldier to zip it. Either he didn’t or someone saw us. The latter probably.”
“Markin was right then. Close, at least. Wonder if he left for a similar reason? Phoenix were probably afraid he’d talk to the public. I get that impression.” Lilith retook control of the craft and settled us down in a large cavern. ”We’ll stop here for the night.” She twisted a piece of hair around her finger, frowning. “I wonder what they thought you heard?”
I shrugged. “Something big. I have no doubt that the Akha are lying their asses off. I’ve been thinking about what they could be lying about though, or why they felt the need to keep us in the dark.”
“I’m sure someone knows. Markin came close, I figured that much from his sleep talking. Mentioned someone called Alere before, and something about farms? Didn’t click until now.”
“Do you have a connection to Visnet from here? I have an idea, the name sounds so familiar.” I pulled up an input screen and began to login.
“Sort of. It’ll be slow and ghosted.”
“Works for me.”
Lilith typed a few commands into her
“My what?”
“Questions. Your turn.”
“Oh.” Lilith glanced over at me and I grinned. She scowled and tapped her fingers on the screen. Messages I couldn’t read from my seat. The chair she sat in reclined and Lilith laid back with pale arms folded behind her head.
“What if I want to save it for later?”
She giggled when I poked her in the arm. “Gotta do it now, smart ass.”
“You might regret that you know.”
“Nope. Don’t regret anything.”
Lilith turned her head to face me. “Really?”
I nodded. “Nobody should, if they thought well and proper about what choice to pick. Every choice was something you wanted at one point.”
“Hmm, makes sense when you put it like that. Well, I have one. What do you think of the Akhataree? Markin hates them. I’m not sure why, though.”
The question took me off guard and I shifted my feet around. I’d expected her to ask about my background, but not that.
“I read your file. I know about your unit going missing.”
By the Ahka, the woman didn’t forget a thing did she?
“Not missing, but non-existent now.”
Lilith squinted at me. “Is that why you ran?”
“Mmhm. Found out something I shouldn’t have.” I drummed my fingers on the Mercury’s smooth dashboard. “I don’t want to be deleted.”
“What do you mean by deleted?”
Suppose there’s no reason I shouldn’t tell her what happened. Only fair. As far as I knew the Akha didn’t expect me to survive out here.
“They were removed. Gone. No one remembers them, not even their families. Erased out of the world system just like a file.”
Lilith frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? How could you delete a person?”
“You know those crackpot conspiracies that people like Markin talk about? About how the Akha are lying to us? It’s true. There’s more going on and I don’t know what. But I know people just disappearing from history ain’t normal. I’m the only one that remembers these guys after what we saw. It’s like they never existed!”
I was shaking my head while Lilith just stared open mouthed. “What the fuck? What did you see to make them want to kill you off?”
“Me and another guy, we overheard a Phoenix agent talking about the last day before the Restore.” Lilith opened her mouth but I raised a palm to stop her. “Sorry. Phoenix are the contingent the Akhataree put on Earth to manage us. Ego, she’s a Phoenix too.”
“Oh,” she replied with a nod. “I always thought it was weird that nobody ever questioned what happened on the last day. Especially when no human knows.”
“Right. Well it’s complicated. They were talking in Akha so we only caught bits and pieces when they mentioned names. We passed it off as random alien chatter until the people in my unit started disappearing. I thought something wasn’t right about it and told my soldier to zip it. Either he didn’t or someone saw us. The latter probably.”
“Markin was right then. Close, at least. Wonder if he left for a similar reason? Phoenix were probably afraid he’d talk to the public. I get that impression.” Lilith retook control of the craft and settled us down in a large cavern. ”We’ll stop here for the night.” She twisted a piece of hair around her finger, frowning. “I wonder what they thought you heard?”
I shrugged. “Something big. I have no doubt that the Akha are lying their asses off. I’ve been thinking about what they could be lying about though, or why they felt the need to keep us in the dark.”
“I’m sure someone knows. Markin came close, I figured that much from his sleep talking. Mentioned someone called Alere before, and something about farms? Didn’t click until now.”
“Do you have a connection to Visnet from here? I have an idea, the name sounds so familiar.” I pulled up an input screen and began to login.
“Sort of. It’ll be slow and ghosted.”
“Works for me.”
Lilith typed a few commands into her
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