Batchmate by Jordan Rivet

Author:Jordan Rivet [Rivet, Jordan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

Night had fallen by the time Sine and I left Bluestone Tower. Neither of us had the energy to explore her new neighborhood like we’d planned. We needed showers to scrub away the blood and grime from the bombing and soothe our aches and pains. The horror of what we’d experienced was finally starting to set in.

Sine lived three railbus stops from Grid City Central in a pod-stack that was much nicer than Clementine’s place. The building’s occupants were mostly young clones training for permanent positions. Being there felt a lot like being back at Cloneworks.

Sine’s batchmates, Trig and Tan, had been on the seventeenth floor of Bluestone Tower during the bombing, so they’d gotten home long before us. They fussed over us for a while and described how it had felt when the tallest tower in the world quaked beneath their feet.

“We had no clue what was happening,” Tan said.

“I thought the whole place was going to collapse,” Trig added earnestly.

“That would take a much bigger bomb,” Sine said. “Modern skyscrapers are nearly indestructible. We could probably calculate the—”

“No calculating!” Tan interrupted. “I’m just glad you made it.”

“What about Cos?” I asked. “Was she with you two?”

Tan and Trig exchanged glances. A new rift seemed to have formed between the three of them and Cos. That happened sometimes when batchmates tried to get a little space after entering the nonclone world.

“She wasn’t in the building,” Trig said. “She’d gone out to lunch.”

“Not that she invited us,” Tan muttered.

“We should have done that too,” Sine said. “Sorry I brought you into this, Jane.”

“Not your fault.” I needed to tell her about accidentally putting her on Lavinia Bluestone’s radar, but that could wait until she and I were alone. “If anything, I brought the bad luck to you. This isn’t even my first I-CAT bombing.”

Trig gasped. “That’s right. You were on that train.”

“You really are bad luck,” Tan said. “On the bright side, Sine might get a nice, unique scar.”

Sine prodded the clear bandage on her arm. “Don’t be jealous.”

“I’ll just have to hang out with Jane more often.” Tan winked at me. “So, are you both coming out with us or what? There’s a decent clickbeat DJ at the Tipsy Drone, and we’re meeting up with some of the Davids.”

Sine and I exchanged glances. “Sorry. I don’t think we have it in us. Maybe tomorrow night.”

“Suit yourselves.”

We chatted with Tan and Trig while they got ready to go out, laughing and joking to shake off the grim day. It felt good to be together again. I’d lived with their batch for most of my life, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed them.

As they showed off their outfits and bickered over who got to wear which shoes, I couldn’t help picturing their older batchmate, crushed by a table and sprawled on her back, familiar eyes staring blankly. I’d never forget the image. Someone needed to make Solidarity and I-CAT answer for it.

After Trig and Tan left, Sine and I ordered delivery food for dinner and curled up on the sofa.

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