Cassie ended up checking the storm every half hour, almost on the dot. Those checks only happen more often as the storm begins to slow.

  Even when she thinks it’s safe, I have to make her wait. I don’t want sand getting in the steam generator and seizing it up. She reluctantly agrees, and we finish our game.

  The moment the storm has fully passed, we hop in the car and head up the ramp. Cassie stares at the makeshift grave of the people who live here, and doesn’t turn her head away even when they’re out of sight.

  “We did the best we could for them.” I try to comfort her, even if I don’t believe it myself.

  She gres at me, making it very clear she knows I’m just saying that. Despite that, she just stares out the window instead of back towards the graves.

  The sand luckily settled pretty close to the opening. It’s a bit steeper than is probably good for the generator, but it’s fine.

  It’s too dangerous to use the generator during the day. I’m using the same burnable liquid from the water purifier to run it, and it makes too much smoke to be safe to use while it’s light out.

  “We’ll be at the coast in about twenty hours. Getting onto the continental shelf will be the most dangerous section, but we’ll be passing through in the early morning. Corax, I’m not sure if it’ll be safe for you to scout or not.”

  “Great. I take it there’s no way to get there faster?”

  “Not without risking the tires.” I say. “And it’s too dangerous to stop anywhere other than Vegas.”

  “Fucking great.” Cassie mutters to herself, and turns her focus to the radio.

  I focus on the sand in front of me, and Corax focuses on perfecting his nest in my p.

  “Even more people are talking about us.” Cassie breaks the silence after only half an hour. “There’s a lot of misinformation and theories though, people are reporting we’re in every town.”

  “That’s good.” Everyone must be desperate for a portion of that money. If they report random information, and they happen to be right, that sounds like a life changing amount of money. “Maybe we should call in and report false information ourselves.”

  “That would be funny, but no. All it takes is for Mara to give the rangers a sample of our voices, and they know right where we are.”

  I could theoretically just build a new voice off my existing one, but I can’t make a brand new one without the voice samples Finn gave me. It’s not worth risking it.

  “I actually have a second voice I constructed before, well, everything.” I say. “Mary’s the only person alive who even has a chance at having heard it.” It’ll probably hurt to use it, but if it’ll keep us safe I’ll do it.

  “Why did you make two?” Cassie asks.

  “I convinced myself that it only makes sense that everything about me should be androgynous, so I made a public one, and this one, one I actually like.”

  “Huh. I always just assumed you were designed to be female.”

  “No, I picked this myself.” Somehow, it’s not hard to talk about this. Corax isn’t even preparing to bite me, he’s just resting in his cloth nest. A memory resurfaces in my mind, a memory I thought for sure they ripped out in the dark. “My mom even reshaped some of my body. I can’t imagine how much harder things would have been if she didn’t do that.” I can feel Kara’s eyes on the back of my head, but they’re softer than they normally are.

  “That’s wild.”

  “Yeah, she did a lot for me, even paid for the modifications herself since the b wouldn’t. These clothes were her st gift to me.” They’re a patchwork mess after the repairs from the storm, but still rgely together. “I just wish I could have been better for her.”

  “I’m gd you had someone like her. My dad did a lot for me too.” She doesn’t seem like she’s going to continue the conversation on her own.

  “Like what?” I prod her gently.

  “Well, mom wanted me to be like her. Wearing dresses, helping people and shit. Dad just mostly didn’t send me home when I snuck out. I’d follow him around constantly. He rarely actually expined what he was doing or how to do it, but he always made sure I had a good view so I could figure it out myself.” The sound of a tear hitting a surface dominates the silence, but I’m not sure if it’s hers or mine. “Having something to remember them by helps.” She pulls out her knife and stares into it, a small smile creeping into the corners of her mouth.

  I’m really gd I saved that for her. I’m not sure if my clothes are a good or bad reminder, and I’m not going to find out. Instead, I need to keep the conversation on her.

  “Is your pistol his too?” I ask.

  “No. No this is actually Vince’s dad’s pistol.”

  “Really? Why did he give it to you?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll let him share it after we save him.” She reaches up to wipe her face.

  “That sounds like a pn.” I wipe away the pure emotions running down my face as well. “Thanks for talking. It helps.”

  “Good.”

  “I couldn’t save my tablet. If you’re ok with it, I think talking through everything would make a good repcement.”

  Corax nibbles on my finger. Not a warning, just a reminder he’s here even if the conversations get tough.

  “I think it’d be alright with that.” Cassie turns her head away from me, but the window betrays the smile on her face.

  “Thank you. I think I need some time before I’m ready to talk more. I’ll let you know when I’m ready, as long as you tell me when you are.”

  “I’ll tell you when I need it.”

  Our conversation dies there, but that’s fine. I feel surprisingly good, and Cassie’s foot slows a little bit. It’s not long before her anxiety returns however, and her foot begins to gently bounce the entire car.

  My eyes are drawn to her, still staring into the desert. I wish so badly I could just help her settle down. Some simple action or secret word to wipe away her worry. They always do it so easily in her books, I can’t help but feel a little useless. I know that’s not fair, and I’m not going to let it eat away at me, but I can’t force myself to dismiss the feeling.

  “Do you want to talk about the Vegas pn again?” Maybe if she’s more prepared she’ll feel better.

  “It’s not a pn. It’s barely an idea.”

  “Then let’s figure something out.”

  “Fine.” She agrees reluctantly.

  “So, we get there and ask Zero for help.”

  “How?” She interrupts. “It’s not like you can just plug in and talk to him again.”

  “Eternity didn’t even bother to have a security system of its own. They can see through every camera, hear through every microphone. When we get to the entrance, we just talk into the camera and they’ll hear every word.”

  “And why should he care? Vince isn’t with us, he won’t give a shit.”

  “Then we go in the main entrance, and have a few days to figure out how to do pn B.” I’m doing my best to sound confident, I think she needs it.

  “Right, yeah. You know Eight is even less likely to help us, right?”

  “Eight doesn’t have to help us, just the AI that lives there.” I’ve done a lot of thinking about what I saw in that network, and I’m convinced that they can use the web that exists in there to get a lead on Clover. Even if I have to do it myself, all I have to do is find her from Vince’s web, and memorize every face that pops up. From there, we just find one of them. “And if we can’t get to them, then we find another AI to help. Any quantum will do, probably.”

  “Right. Like I said, that’s not a pn. What the fuck do we do when that fails?”

  “Go back to Denver and get a message to Silver?” They’re the only other person I can think of who can help.

  “Blue, we’re worth a million fucking dolrs. We wouldn’t make it to the stairs before being executed.”

  “Then we’ll stay in Vegas and pay for a message to Silver.”

  “I don’t think you understand just how fucked we are! Vegas isn’t going to be some safe haven like you think it is! Everyone’s armed! Everyone’s desperate!” Her yells fill the car, smming against my mind.

  “Then we’ll make sure Zero helps.”

  “How?” She leans back in her seat, her burning anger quickly cooling into something far more potent. “What’s going to stop him from just selling us out?”

  “I don’t know, I didn’t think about that.” There has to be something we can use, right? “They run Vegas. Don’t they have enough money?”

  Cassie snorts.

  “Literally nobody has ever said they have enough money. If Zero cared he’d make the city livable for the people he stole the fortune off.”

  “Right.” Don’t panic, think. “We’ll make it work.”

  “How?” Cassie reiterates.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out. We have to.”

  “Right.” She shakes her head and is silent for a while. “Can I drive?”

  “Sure.” I put the car in park and step out. It takes her a few seconds to grab her battery, unplug it from the car, and walk around to the driver’s seat.

  I sit in the passenger’s seat while she gets settled in.

  “Can you grab some of our cloth? We both need to cover as much skin as possible. A big cloak and something to cover everything but our eyes.”

  “Isn’t that just going to pull more attention towards us? Make it clear we have something to hide?”

  “I’m not going in there without my body armor. We’re going to be drawing attention anyway.”

  “Alright, I’ll make something. I’m going to have to use your bnket though.”

  “That’s fine.”

  I climb over the center console and collect cloth and our medical kit. We have plenty of sewing supplies, and just looking at Cassie is enough to estimate her measurements.

  “What name are you going to be using?” Cassie asks.

  “Do I need another name? The broadcasts didn’t reveal ours.”

  “The rangers act assuming we can hear everything they broadcast. Everyone who’s important is going to know everything about us. Plus everyone who’s important in Vegas already knows who we are.”

  “Right.” Of course they do. I could have figured that out. I’m sure I would have made the connection if I had my drives. “I picked my own name, I don’t want to get rid of it.”

  “Blue, I-”

  “I know.” I cut her off. Her telling me I have to isn’t going to make me want to do it any more than I already do.

  I’m not stealing one of the scientists' names. Even if I could handle it, they don’t deserve that. There’s only one other name I considered when I chose mine, it’s not a real option, but it is funny.

  “The first name I thought of in the b was Bread.” I tell her.

  “I’m fucking sorry?” Her anger disappears instantly, repced with disbelieving ughter. “What? How? Why?”

  “I loved my hair, but couldn’t pick Red. I wanted my name to start with B, just as a small reminder of my original name. Stick a B in front of Red, and you get something very close to Bread.”

  “I’m not calling you that.”

  “I don’t want you to, it’s just a funny memory.”

  Maybe I should just steal a name from one of Cassie’s books? I think that makes the most sense, I’m not in a good enough shape mentally to really dig into myself and figure out another meaningful name.

  “How about Ruby?” I ask.

  “Like from one of my books?” She asks. “Fine, call me Scarlet then.”

  “Alright, that sounds like a pn.”

  “It’s really still not.”

  JanePtinum