Jack closed his eyes and settled back into his mattress. Now that he’d looked outwards, he could reach inwards. Icons flashed in his mind – Fist’s damage repair reports. The puppet’s basic systems had successfully repaired themselves. His mind, memory and personality were ready to be reactivated. Jack had to be present to steer this final rebirth. For a moment, he hesitated. Without Fist, he had felt loneliness, but also peace. There’d been solitude for the first time in seven years. Such privacy was difficult to relinquish.
But so much had changed since they’d returned to Station. Each had become a mediator for the other, Jack helping Fist engage with the subtle workings of humanity, Fist helping Jack control the digital environment that the little puppet understood so well. Emotion poured through him. He thought back to when East had offered to neuter Fist’s higher functions. He’d framed his objection then in rational terms; now, he understood that there was far more to it than that. The puppet was no longer just a burdensome tool. He was a conscious, developing individual with whom Jack was deeply involved.
Commands pulsed in Jack’s thoughts. They confirmed that it was safe for Fist to reboot. At peace in the sanctuary of his mind, Jack watched as his child began to live again.
Chapter 37
Hours passed. Jack seemed to be asleep. In fact, he was deep in conversation with Fist.
[ Thank gods I’m back,] chirped the puppet. [ You can’t manage without me. Rescued by children!]
[Pretty capable kids. They’ve hidden from InSec all this time.]
Fist was silent for a moment. [ Well, here’s part of how they did it,] he told Jack. [ This room’s a Turing cage. Nothing digital gets in or out. And that young girl’s got some fairly heavy protection running. She’s invisible to anyone onweave.]
[ They said that the lions and tigers and bears couldn’t see them either. Must be invisible to security programs, too.]
[ Yup. But only for a while. Their protection stops at puberty. Lyssa’s weave presence will activate fully then and break her shielding.]
[And the boy?]
[Looks like his broke a few months back. But he’s never been fully onweave. Must have been hiding here all that time.]
[ He could do that?]
[As long as they keep feeding him.]
[ That’s not what I meant, Fist.]
[ I know. Poor kid.]
The note of empathy in the puppet’s voice surprised Jack. He wondered about commenting on it, but worried that that would inhibit it. [ They can’t have got this stuff from their parents,] he said neutrally. [ It’s far too sophisticated.]
[ Their folks must have been hackers as well as terrorists. Interesting. I’ll dig into the code, see what I can find out.]
[ That’s not all the digging we need to do. We need to work out what happened at TrueShield.]
[ I could have killed a god, Jack Conscience Forster decided I shouldn’t, and we had our backsides tanned. End of story.]
[And that should be impossible. None of the other puppets could have done it. They were built on military minds, Totality specialists with no sense of Pantheon structure. They’d have been completely lost in divine security code.]
[Puppet plus accountant equals god fucker,] preened Fist. [ How about that? It was a piece of piss to break, Jackie boy. Pantheon security sucks, it’s overconfidence again.]
[Oh no.] Awe rose in Jack. [Sometimes, when I was working close enough to the Pantheon, I’d hear their protection growling in the distance. I was out on the edge of a five-year business plan once, I saw the Twins’ firewall on the horizon. Unreachable. Unknowable. It burnt so brightly. I couldn’t look at it for more than a few seconds. I don’t know how to describe it.]
[ That’s not how it looked to me,] chirped Fist. [ It was just a little door. I just raised my foot and kicked it down. Bam! I always knew I was special! I only wish all those other puppets were still around, I’d love to have seen those little S.O.B.’s faces when I showed them what I could really do.]
[More than special,] said Jack. [ You’re a Pantheon gun. Could you really have killed him?]
[ I could have done whatever I wanted to. Messed around with his corporate structures. Crashed some of his businesses. Deleted his personality. Copied ours into it. Wait a second …] Fist paused for a second, then exploded with vicious excitement. [ I could have copied us over Kingdom! He’d have become us! We could have been gods! I could have been a god! Let’s go back and do it!]
Fist’s glee scared Jack. Trying to sound as calm and firm as he could, he replied: [ You haven’t thought that through, Fist. Remember, we don’t have any proof of what Kingdom’s been up to. And if you kill a god, lots of people die and the other gods would kill us. We’d last seconds at most.]
[ BUT WHAT SECONDS THEY’D BE!]
[ Remember East’s anger,] Jack told him, keeping his voice gentle. [ Imagine eleven of them turning on you.]
[ I’d fucking have the lot of them.]
[Even if you’re damaged?]
[ Fuck’s sake, Jack. Yamata barely touched me. That’s just a detail.]
[ Really?]
[ I’m fine.] There was a pause. [ Well, maybe there are some little bruises. But they don’t matter.]
[Show me.]
[ I don’t want to think about it. Come on, Jack, let’s go! I’m a Pantheon gun! I may be short of a few bullets, but I’m still ready to fire!]
There was a little less glee in his voice, a little more anxiety. Jack wondered what the true extent of the damage was. [ I need to see,] he said, quietly but firmly. [ I’m not taking you anywhere until I’ve seen.]
[ Jack …] whined Fist.
[ I mean it.]
Fist let a series of images escape into Jack’s mind. The puppet was wrapped in a tightly buttoned and belted trench coat. A little fedora hat was perched on his head.
[ There. Hardly a scratch.]
He turned to left and right, stretching his arms out. He didn’t seem to realise that the trench coat was torn under one arm. The tear revealed a charred wooden body dotted with broken remnants of clothing. Wisps of hair emerged from beneath the hat. There was a new looseness to his movements, as if his joints had been over-strained and left slightly too flexible. His face and hands were darker than they had been, stained by smoke.
[ That looks quite serious.]
[ I’m fine, Jackie boy, fine fine fine! Ha ha ha.] His laughter was forced. [ I’ve just had to reallocate some internal memory. And I’ve still got some repairs to finish. So no full visuals at the moment, I’m afraid.]
[ You’re not at full attack strength.]
[ You’re spoiling everything, Jack.]
[ I’m helping you think clearly. How hard could you hit Kingdom, right now?]
Fist said nothing.
[ Hard enough to be sure of finishing him off ?]
[ Fucking hell, Jack.]
[And what would happen if you didn’t? He’d wipe both our personalities. Then he’d rebuild your attack systems and turn them on the rest of the Pantheon. We’d be dead and he’d be able to take over or kill any of them. Is that what you want?]
For a moment, Fist’s newly battered face was inert. He looked more puppet-like than ever before. Then he leapt into animated life again.
[ I’m bored with this! Let’s talk about Yamata and Harry! We can chat about Kingdom again when I’ve finished my repairs.]
Relief shook through Jack. [Good idea,] he said. [ How could Harry fight her off like that?]
[ I’ve got a pretty good idea. I scanned him when he passed through me. I’ve got his number now. Yamata’s too. And you know what’s really strange? At a systems level, you can’t tell them apart.]
[ But she hit you with a Totality attack package.]
[She’s a post-mortal human consciousness running on a Totality platform – that jellyfish thing was her weave presence. Harry makes more of an effort to look good, but he’s really exactly the same. It’s why he could make such a big dent in her.]