Chapter 81

  Hitasa peeked over the edge of the stone well, skeptically studying the dark water below. The well looked old, the bucket for drawing the water was heavily chipped and made of partially rotted wood, and the rope was frayed to the point of snapping in three places. It looked like any of a hundred old wells she had drawn water from over the course of her life, but the damekin who had told them where to find the well—and who had also been suspicious of Hitasa and the others from the moment she saw them—had mentioned that no one had used it in more than six months.

  Hitasa touched her right ear thoughtfully, rubbing her finger over its rigid point. To the outside observer, her ears looked like they belonged to a rabbit, but that was just an illusion meant to help her blend in with the predominantly beastkin population of Gaia Zeta. She didn’t like hiding who she was. Alongside her brother on Gaia Eta, Hitasa had written a manifesto urging elves to be proud of their race. Several copies of that document were tucked into her pockets. Now, here on Gaia Zeta, she was hiding her elf identity.

  Ring’s voice broke her concentration. “The well seems to be in disrepair. Would you like me to suggest a method to extract the water without using the bucket?”

  “That’s alright,” Hitasa said. “I doubt if the water down there is safe to drink. We could boil it, but I’m guessing there’s a reason it was abandoned.”

  Her party had their own water reserves, but they weren’t infinite. She and Dalex had determined they would use local water to replenish their supplies whenever they had the chance. They had used that need as a pretense to approach the damekin who had told them about the wall and ask her questions about the area. Unfortunately, she had not shown the slightest interest in talking to strangers, even those with the appearance of fellow beastkin. Dalex had convinced her to give them the location of this rundown well, but nothing else. The people of Gaia Zeta were far more suspicious than Hitasa had expected.

  Ring spoke again, saying, “Analysis of the water in the well does indeed indicate the presence of several dangerous pathogens, including two that would not be eliminated by boiling. However, your all-purpose gel is capable of removing the contaminants.”

  Hitasa dropped the bucket into the well and gripped the rope. “I should have guessed that was an option.”

  She drew the bucket up, careful not to pull on the rope too hard and risk breaking it. Before the rotting bucket could leak too much of the liquid, she poured it into a container made from the molding gel and followed Ring’s instructions for purifying the water. A small cloud of the gel slipped into the water and went to work, removing the poisons and making it safe to drink.

  Hitasa heard footsteps behind her—Dalex coming to join her at the well. He walked up next to her and pointed at the water and the gray matter running back and forth across it.

  “Neat, right?”

  Hitasa turned to face him. “Very convenient.”

  Just a moment ago, Dalex had been talking with Erban, trying to get to get on better terms with the beastkin and failing. Seventh and Balgoth were still lingering several yards away. The woman watched the captive while the demon napped.

  Erban hadn’t spoken more than a few words since they captured him that first night on Gaia Zeta soil, almost a week ago. Hitasa thought Dalex would have cut him loose by now, but he insisted on keeping the beastkin around, no matter how useless he was. Luckily, Erban wasn’t dragging on their resources much.

  Seventh had made a detailed map of a large part of the planet, but the party hadn’t gleaned any helpful details. Seventh had found plenty of large towns and a couple of small cities, but they were full of people like the damekin who had directed Dalex to a poisoned well.

  It wasn’t that the residents of Gaia Zeta were wicked. They were just distrustful. Very few people were willing to give a stranger directions, and no one was willing to discuss the movements of dragons, militaries, governments, or anything related to the mysterious barrier Dalex was curious about.

  Even just listening in on conversations while they were invisible hadn’t yielded any useful information. These people tended to steer clear of subjects that might make them uncomfortable and focused on day-to-day topics of living a happy and productive life. Eavesdropping on these conversations helped the party learn names and a few things that were common knowledge to Gaia Zetans, but nothing the party really needed to know.

  And local maps seemed to be rare on Gaia Zeta. Even after sneaking into a few buildings that Seventh had determined to be government offices, they hadn’t found any useful documents to glean critical information about this world.

  It all pointed to a familiar control and repression, but even more extreme than Hitasa had expected. She had always thought the beastkin of Gaia Zeta would be freer than the elves and beastkin of Gaia Eta. While the people here were not slaves under constant risk of execution, they were certainly not free. In fact, Hitasa felt quite a bit more fear in this land than she was used to.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Hitasa said. “This armor is making us appear like beastkin. Our clothes and features change to lend in, judging by what the cameras in the armor have seen, correct?”

  “I would attribute a more mysterious method to it,” Dalex said, “but you’re more or less right.”

  “Can we mimic a specific human or beastkin? Say I wanted to look like the damekin who told us to come here, how close would the disguise come to matching her.”

  “Interesting question.” Dalex raised his voice and shouted. “Seventh!”

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  Seventh jumped as if startled.

  Hitasa raised an eyebrow. In all the time she had known Seventh, she had never seen the women evoke any serious emotion, let alone startlement. Hitasa had thought she was utterly implacable and impossible to impress, let alone surprise.

  Dalex turned to face Seventh’s direction only after she had regained her composure and was walking toward him. He missed the abnormal reaction entirely.

  Seventh stopped in front of him and asked. “Do you need something?”

  “Hitasa was wondering if she could mimic a specific person with one of our disguises.”

  Hitasa broke in and clarified. “Could one of us assume the identity of a person close enough to trick someone who knows them into thinking they are talking to the real person?”

  Seventh answered, “Yes, such a disguise is possible. In fact, identical mimicry is essentially the base function of the technology you are using for your current disguise. All of the elements you are currently showing are directly copied from a previously witnessed beastkin, but they have been randomized in order to avoid accidentally encountering the original subject and revealing the disguise.”

  “What are you thinking, specifically?” Dalex asked.

  “The people of Gaia Zeta won’t talk to strangers, but they might open up to someone they know. If we could find two people on good terms with one another and then slip into the role of one of them, we might get more valuable information for our mission.”

  “I like it,” Dalex said. “But I don’t think I’m a good enough actor to fool anyone into thinking I’m their friend, even with a perfect disguise.”

  Hitasa had considered that. Mimicking a person’s looks and voice wouldn’t account for their mannerisms and way of speaking. She didn’t think she could perform to the necessary standard, either. But it was worth a try. Even if they were caught impersonating someone’s friend or family, it would be easy enough to escape after discovery, and word about mysterious doppelgangers probably wouldn’t spread quickly enough to bring investigators searching for Dalex.

  Seventh offered, “Given a few minutes to study a particular beastkin and their relationship with a target, I would likely be able to imitate the subject well enough to fool a relation without significant scrutiny.”

  “Are you sure?” Dalex said. “You’re pretty stiff. Not to say you don’t have your charms, but I didn’t think acting was in your skill set.”

  “Artificial intelligence began with mimicry of sentience and sapience. It is one of my most basic functions. The effect will not be perfect, but it should be enough to briefly fool an intelligence source.”

  She seemed confident, though Hitasa didn’t really understand her explanation for why.

  Dalex snapped his fingers. “Let’s give it a try. I’ll check out that town we saw when we flew in and see if I can spot a good target.” He abruptly shouted, “Fly!” and took off into the sky, creating a small cloud of dust with his departure.

  Once again, Seventh jumped with what appeared to be mild alarm. Dalex was already well on his way, so he missed the reaction for a second time.

  Hitasa studied Seventh. “Is everything alright?”

  Calm once more, Seventh returned her gaze. “I am functioning normally. Do you have a request or issue you wish to resolve?”

  “You just seemed surprised, is all. I’ve never seen you like that before.”

  “I am incapable of experiencing the emotion you refer to as ‘surprise.’”

  Hitasa nodded skeptically and said, “Right,” believing her eyes over Seventh’s word. The woman had such a strange way of talking, even for a human.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Hitasa continued, “why do you call yourself an android? What is that?”

  “I am synthetic entity,” Seventh said simply, “a being created in the image of a human, but without the same innate biological processes. While my body appears to be made of organic materials, I am actually composed of a special mixture of molding gel.”

  “You’re not, um, alive? Are you like Ring?”

  Seventh had always been a strange woman, but Hitasa had just assumed she was closed off and quiet.

  “‘Alive’ is a philosophical concept that is hotly debated across the universe. Some civilizations consider me alive. Others consider me a simple machine. I do not waste time on such meaningless discussions. As to whether I am similar to the artificial intelligence you have named Ring, I am not. Dalex would likely argue that I am a more complex entity but functionally the same. He would be wrong.”

  “You said you don’t get surprised,” Hitasa prompted.

  “I do not experience any emotion,” Seventh explained. “I follow a complex set of instructions known simply as programming. These instructions do not allow for emotions.”

  Hitasa found that hard to believe.

  “But when you jumped earlier.”

  “I did not jump.”

  Hitasa gave her the most sympathetic smile she could muster. “I saw you do it twice. Each time, it was right after Dalex did something unexpected. First, when he called your name, and second, when he abruptly flew off.”

  Seventh glared at her. One corner of her lip twitched into a snarl. “An organic lifeform such as yourself might see many events that did not occur. I assure you; I did not jump.”

  She stalked away toward Erban and Balgoth. Hitasa cocked her head and watched Seventh as she stationed herself next to the spot where Erban was tied to a post made of molding gel.

  A little less than an hour later, Dalex returned, landing next to the well with an excited smile. He was bubbling with options about who they could approach and which acquaintance to imitate. His armor had recorded a detailed report of the townspeople he had observed, including a basic outline of their relationships.

  Somehow, Seventh knew all of this information without Dalex needing to tell her, as if she had been watching him while he was away. She often knew of things that she hadn’t witnessed, but only if Dalex or Hitasa had witnessed them instead. It was like she was watching the world through their eyes.

  Once Dalex and Hitasa ironed out a detailed plan, Hitasa took Dalex aside where Seventh couldn’t see them.

  “Have you noticed anything strange about Seventh?” she asked.

  “Not really,” he said. “She’s been unusually proactive with this idea of yours, but otherwise she’s normal. Why do you ask?”

  She took a breath and decided not to give him details. “I’m not sure. Just an odd moment or two. She’s hard to read.”

  Considering Seventh’s earlier startlement had happened as a result of Dalex’s actions, Hitasa wanted to wait until she knew more before she told Dalex about the specifics.

  “You’re not alone in that,” Dalex said. “Sometimes I think I understand her, and, other times, not so much.”

  “How did you meet Seventh?”

  The question was out of Hitasa’s mouth before she knew it was coming. It was one of a thousand she had wanted to ask for a long time. She had waited, both because she was worried the answers would be difficult to understand, and because she hadn’t felt like the time had been right.

  And she was scared. She didn’t want to catch him in a lie. Part of her still saw the only humanity in him. He was a man like Michel or Castreier. He said he was different, that he came from a different world where humans weren’t so universally vicious and cruel. What if that had been a lie? What if he was just like every other human in the Seven Worlds of Gaia? Before this moment, she hadn’t wanted to ask anything that might reveal the truth of his origins.

  Dalex frowned. “Well, that’s a long— No, not long. That’s a difficult story.”

  Hitasa waved a dismissive hand at him and looked down. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. I shouldn’t have asked. We have other more important things to do right now.”

  “I met her after I died,” Dalex said.

  Hitasa froze. She looked up at him and met his eyes. “What?”

  Dalex nodded. “Yup, I died.” He paused, and then said, “I died, and then I came here.”

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