2015 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide Read online

  Wallace let out a grumble.

  “Sorry,” Bronner said. His pale skin pinkened as he turned back. “Her bot is . . . agitated?”

  “Better, but not much,” Wallace said. He pushed up from his wheelie chair then went over to the rusty sink to give his hands a wash. Taki didn’t know why. It’s not like he’d even done anything. “You finish her up. I don’t have time to deal with some wriggling charity case.”

  Bronner leaned over in his seat to watch Wallace go. Then he went to the sink himself.

  “Guess he’s a busy man,” he said to Taki, real mild as the old pipes rang and clanked. He was near seventeen, tall, well-muscled and with a dark mop of curls. His easy manner meant the other botters hardly gave him any time, but down at the arena, on those rare moments when he showed his face, he always won. To Taki, that made him worth hearing, mostly.

  “And you’re not?”

  Bronner shrugged. “It’s either help you out or muck the toilets again. Not that Wallace cares either way. He’s been drunk out of his head since dawn cracked.” He stared down toward the hallway for a moment then gave his head a shake, as if to rattle out some thought he couldn’t bear thinking. At last he planted himself in the tinker’s chair.

  But as he readied his tools, there was a great squeal of wheels, the crunch of metal. Bronner looked down at the floor, lifting his eyebrows in bemusement.

  “Your bot. She just took out the Are Seven.”

  “It,” Taki said fast, “It’s not a her. It’s an it.” She paused. “If anything, Ellay Tu would be a boy. But it’s an it.”

  Bronner picked up the scalpel. “Okay, but you gotta quiet it down.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” she protested. Wasn’t her job to make sure her Ellay behaved.

  “It knows you’re getting all worked up. It’s worried for you.”

  “Is not! It’s just a machine. Doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

  “A high end brand like an Ellay? Sure it does. Why do you think you keep burning out your thought processor? That hunk of metal probably dreams with you.”

  Taki screwed up her face. She’d never heard that before. Da never said a word about it. The idea felt . . . invasive. It made her feel naked and wrong. Her cheeks and ears began to warm.

  “You’re wrong! My Da said…”

  But Bronner wasn’t listening. Instead, he chose this moment to dive in, using his scalpel to slice open her head. She couldn’t feel him cutting – just a distant pull, like someone gave your braid a tug. Of course, it had been years since her hair had been long enough for braids. And now it was down to nothing again – the clippings left on Bronner’s workbench.

  Across the room, Ellay Tu let out a frantic whoop. Taki could definitely feel something now, another tug, a spreading warmth.

  “Chip?” Bronner asked, offering his open hand. Taki fished it from her pocket. The pren held it up to the light for both of them. It was a little smudged from her fingerprints. But Bronner still gave a nod.

  “Good,” he said. “Nice find.” With that, he snapped it into place. There was a moment when her whole mind went a sort of piss-gold. Then the chip booted up, and Taki heard Ellay Tu give a whistle.

  No, that’s not right. It spoke again, right into her head.

 

  Taki rolled her eyes. All that processing power wasted on such piddling thoughts.

  …………………………

  When he got her all sewn up, Bronner made her wait awhile in the workshop. It didn’t make much sense to her. When Wallace fixed her, he always shoved her right out the door. But it was almost sort of nice to sit on the bench in the corner, a blanket clutched over her shoulders, surrounded by the broke-down pieces of other peoples’ bots.

  “You have a match today?” Bronner asked. He’d hefted his Are Seven up unto his workbench and was going at it with a Phillips head.

  “Yup,” Taki said, while in her head her robot crowed:

  Ellay Tu gave his pincers a squeeze. Taki squinted.

  “Does yours ever talk like that?” Taki asked. Bronner looked over, frowning.

  “Like what?”

  Taki blushed deeply. She’d forgotten he couldn’t hear, too. That was a beginner’s mistake. “All poetic-like.”

  “Nah,” Bronner said, shrugging his shoulders. “But Ellay’s are known for that. It’s a gentleman’s bot, you know. My main unit’s an Effzy Tenner. You know what they’re like.”

  “No,” Taki said. She always tried to avoid letting other botters know that Ellay Tu had been her one, and only, model. But Bronner seemed a decent enough sort. She didn’t think he’d let the others know she was such a nubie. “What’re they like?”

  Bronner squinted down at the Are Seven. “It’s always all rah rah war and blood and guts and stuff with them.”

  “I guess that would make sense,” Taki said. “On account of the war and all.”

  “Exactly.”

  With that, he set the Are Seven back down on the floor. It rolled forward a couple inches, its grippers out. Ellay Tu gave a frightened whistle, then hid beneath the legs of Taki’s chair.

 

  “Oh, you wimp,” Taki said. Then blushed. She’d done it again, spoke like Bronner could hear it. But Bronner didn’t seem to mind. He just let out a belly laugh.

  “Maybe he’s saving his strength for his match today.”

  “It,” Taki said, and she heard an echo of Da’s voice in her voice. “Its match.”

  “Sure,” Bronner said, shrugging, “That, too.”

  …………………………

  Ellay Tu crowed as it rolled itself over the yellow dirt and gravel.

  The robot was right, of course. Though the desert sky was interminable and blue, a white moon was lit up bright against the horizon. The day was hot. The arena was guaranteed to be hotter. But for some reason, her brainless bot was convinced this moon was a good portent. That’s what it said, over and over again.

  it gushed.

  Taki said, without humor as she held the steel door open for her robot, then walked into the arena.

  It took a moment for her eyes to work. At first, everything was splotches of light against black. But then the arena’s old topography came into view: the snack stand, stinking of grease and ketchup and lousy with teenage boys; the parts store, where richer botters could just buy whatever new cranks or cogs they needed. Beyond were the pits, a big concrete space split by concrete dividers. The shouts of dozens of men echoed beneath the high ceiling, underscored by the sound of metal crumpling, of rusted wheels turning, of victory.

  Taki felt her pulse speed up. She licked her lips, rushing toward the registration desk.

  “Name?” The middle-aged man behind the counter was so dirty that his skin looked gray. They’d been through this before, loads of times. But it never, ever changed.

  “Taki Nakamura.”

  “Bot model?”

  “Ellay Tu Wun Wun Six Dash Bee.”

  There was a clacking of keys. The man’s terminal was hooked up to a portable generator, and it gave a great whirl after he entered the data. A cloud of dust blossomed on the seepeeyou, then settled again. The man reached across the counter and handed Taki a placard.

  “Board’s to your left,” he said, with a jerk of his thumb – as if she didn’t already know.

  Taki swaggered over, the thin rectangle of plastic clutched against her palm. There was one slot open, near the bottom, for a fight that started ten minutes on. She slid her name into place, grinning at the square, neat letters, the lines of black against white.

  Then her eyes drifted up, sweeping over other
names. They were familiar. She didn’t have to work to sound out the syllables. Until her eye caught on one, near the top. A new name. Taki took the letters in, her tongue curling as she sounded it out in her mind.

  An-gel-eek. Angelique. A girl’s name. A new girl’s name. She felt a flash of emotion, hot and weird, looked over her shoulder as if she expected to find this girl – this Angelique, whoever that was – standing there.

  But the only one there was her robot. He watched her, his viewer tilted, and gave a curious whistle.

  “What are you looking at?” she groused, and stalked off for her first match of the day.

  …………………………

  The first match was what Ellay Tu called a glory. You know, a real knock-down drag-out. But her robot bobbed and weaved and moved exactly where Taki wanted it. When it worked like this, botting was a joy – her bot an extension of her own body, but better. When she went to fetch Ellay Tu from the pit and shake the hand of the sullen teenager she’d beaten, Taki took a mental note to thank Bronner. He’d done good work. And for free, too. That counted for something.

  But her opponent scowled as he squeezed her palm in his. “I can’t believe I lost to two girls today,” he said, before hefting his bot in one hand and huffing off. Taki stood there, blinking.

  Angelique. It had to be.

  Her name was like a curse. It hung over Taki all afternoon. She heard men muttering it on the sidelines – heard them talking about her bot and its stats. An Ecksay Tenner. Brand new. Those were true battle bots, covered with hard black plastic that gleamed even under the arena’s dim lights. Taki watched as her dinky little Ellay, all dented copper and turning green at the edges from the years it’d gone unpolished, clanked forward at its opponent.

  It was their third fight, and things were starting to go downhill. Ellay Tu hesitated once before weaving, and the grippers of a smooth new Ellay Leven managed to fix themselves onto its viewer. There was the sound of crumpling metal. When she urged it to wheel away, the bot’s response came back anguished.

  But it just hobbled back and forth, caught within the Ellay Leven’s grip until the match bell sounded.

  Taki didn’t bother with a handshake. In fact, she left Ellay Tu there, alone in the dusty pit, and ducked into the washroom.

  There was no separate room for girls. Just the long, fetid trough, and the men standing over it. Once Da had stood guard for her at the mouth of the doorless stalls. But no such luck now. She’d learned which stall was safest – not the last, which was always overflowing with waste, but the one beside it. And she’d learned to squat quick, too, pulling her trousers down just enough to do her business but not share it with the outside world.

  But there was no privacy. Even as she peed, Ellay Tu’s thoughts intruded.

 

  She pushed the bot’s thoughts away as she bent at the waist over the dingy sink. As usual, she avoided looking at herself in the cracked mirror. What was the use? She was nothing to see.

 

  Her gaze flickered, fell on her own bald form. She could see the shape of the implant beneath her sallow, sand-pale skin. Black stitches worked a crooked line over her scalp. Her eyes were sunken – cheeks were sunken, too. She could see the sinews in her neck.

  A man jostled her as he passed. He didn’t seem to register her as a girl. They never did. She might have well as been invisible, and no wonder.

 

  She gave a sigh, wiped her hands against her trousers, and trudged back out to the arena.

  …………………………

  At last the time came to face the music. Angelique. She squatted at the far end of the pit, shining her bot with a clean white cloth. She was just a little older than Taki – fourteen, or fifteen, maybe – but the curves of her body marked her as a different sort of creature entirely. Her teeshirt, too new for all this dust, hugged the swell of her hips and chest. Black curls were knotted back at the nape of her neck. Taki couldn’t even make out the shape of the girl’s implant beneath her hairline, but sure enough, her robot stopped and started when she did. It was like the girl had been born to bot.

  Her robot was top of the line, the casement as glossy black as Taki had figured, and seamless. The line of its viewer seemed near invisible until it swiveled around and looked right at her.

  Taki looked away.

  She led Ellay Tu to the center of the pit. Angelique didn’t even bother accompanying her bot out. Instead, she sent the robot over alone. It moved over the dust on silent wheels, and then settled in, staring at Ellay Tu.

  But Ellay was unperturbed.

  it announced. That was a phrase it used lots. She was never entirely sure what it meant, other than that her bot was pleased. It rolled to and fro on creaking wheels.

  Taki asked, and she swung her leg over the concrete divider. Ellay Tu began to spout a definition on its viewscreen, but it was so far away by then that she couldn’t see the words at all. Taki cast her gaze at the ceiling girders.

  The match bell rang.

  Taki squatted low, her fingertips barely touching the dusty ground beneath. If she squinted, she could almost see the world through her robot’s viewer. Her bot was right, of course. Beneath its hard carapace, the Ecksay was full of hot spots. The machinery was weak, then, its reflexes probably slow. So long as Ellay Tu kept it within sight, victory would be easy.

  The Ecksay took the first lunge. It moved silently, but left plenty of time for Ellay to dodge back. At her command, Ellay swung its grabbers wide. They struck the plastic casement once, twice. Ellay Tu sensed a crack. Across the pit, Taki heard it too.

  The Ecksay sputtered back. This was Ellay Tu’s chance – time to move in for the kill. Taki urged the viewer left, then right, chasing a dark shadow of movement in the periphery of his vision. That’s when Taki saw it. Angelique, kneeling on the far side of the pit, laughing up at a tall, familiar figure.

  Bronner. He was handing her a soda. An ugly smile split his wide face in two.

  The girl tucked a loose curl behind her ear. She wasn’t even watching the match. Instead, her eyes were on the tinker’s pren.

  And his eyes were on her. On Angelique. As he flirted and flashed his teeth at her. It was as if Taki were transparent compared to Angelique, as if Taki were less real. Bronner saw Angelique, and Taki did too.

  But what she didn’t see was the Ecksay heading straight for Ellay Tu.

  Taki heard a hard k-thunk. She swiveled her head only to find that it was Ellay Tu. The grabber, once extended proudly, was now bent back toward the ceiling – an unnatural angle. Ellay’s viewer spun round and round, but, though Taki urged it left, it didn’t see the Ecksay closing in. It gripped Ellay, pushed. The old bot’s wheels gave a squeak of protest.

  was all it thought.

  …………………………

  For the longest time, Taki didn’t move. She stayed crouched against the dust-strewn ground, two fingers pressed to dirt, even after Angelique approached to offer Taki her hand. Taki noted with some muffled pleasure how odd her features were – close-set eyes, thick lips and nose just a touch too near together – but only grunted back. And when she saw Bronner hovering behind, she waved him off. She couldn’t bear to look him in the eye, much less speak to him.

 

  She went to fetch her winnings. She stared down at the credit slip as if she could will the words to change. Seven credits. Not enough to cover Ellay’s damages, much less give the change to Ma. She stuffed it down into her trouser pocket.

  She stalked across the arena, past the squatting men and squabbling bots. She was halfway to the pit when she felt it happen – something deep inside her that had once been slippery as oi
l was now congealing, growing sticky-hot and hard. She walked faster, and faster still, until she reached the concrete divider and launched both her long legs over in one swift movement.

 

  Ellay’s mopey viewer gaped up at her, widening in curiosity. She didn’t care. She aimed a swift kick at it, then another, and a third. Her boots dented the metal, left a space that seemed big enough for her to curl up into, or almost. She kicked again, this time hard enough to topple the bot onto its side.

  When it was finally over, she fell back, panting, set her hands on her knees and hung her head. The color that was now stretched from one corner of her mind to the other wasn’t the pale yellow of a reboot, but crimson red. Still, it pulsed back with every heartbeat that sounded in her ears. Her anger faded.

  She went over to her robot. Its wheels were spinning in the empty air. At first, Ellay Tu didn’t answer her. Its rusted body was dented now. Pitiful. But when she set it upright, its viewer narrowed, taking her in.

  Tentatively, it wheeled forward, then back again, gave its viewer a timid spin.

  The voice was high and nervous in her mind. Taki felt an ache squeeze her chest.

  Her robot saw her, even when no one else did. He thought her worthy, thought her good, even at her worst. When she reached out and patted his dented casing a spring popped off the broken grabber. She slid it back into place.

  she said firmly. And she knew it would be. They were much alike, Ellay Tu and Taki. Dented. Rusted. Off-kilter.

  But at least they were together.

  She gave his casing one final pat, and then turned and left the arena. He waited a moment, scanning the darkness. Then he found her. No matter how fast she walked, or how far, he would always follow.