Shadows of April by Erik Schubach

Author:Erik Schubach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Erik Schubach

13 Chapter 13 – Not Exactly Flying Under the Radar

That’s how we spent the next three days, scouring the Harbor for any clues as to where Dad went next. I was woefully aware that for how mind-boggling huge the marketplace was here, it was an infinitesimal part of the two thousand-mile-long city that ringed the Outback Sea.

My eyes were always scanning the far edges of the city and the lush jungle-like forest that lay beyond, knowing that somewhere in all that nature, all that green, Dad was hiding to keep me safe. Did he know it hadn’t worked? That everyone was hunting me anyway? I could have been with him the entire time. A little voice in the back of my head was wondering if he would have left me if I were the real April. Was I an acceptable loss to him?

Mom’s avatar chastised me at that thought like she had been eavesdropping on every stray thought, which was a little disconcerting. “Really Chīsana hana, you shouldn’t think that way of your father. You know he loves you just as much as he did your sister. Keep faith, and remember all he taught you, and you will be reunited soon.”

“I know, I know. I’m just enjoying my pity party, Mom.”

She smiled sadly at me then stepped into nothing as if she were just stepping away and into the kitchen to whip up some shoyu ramen comfort food for Dad and me whenever we were working in the basement, tinkering on our projects all night. I whispered to myself, “I miss you, Mom.”

I noted Adya’s avatar in the AR in our void, watching the exchange as she tried again, unsuccessfully to contact Calli. She said as we moved to the next vendor at the Harbor, “She’s right you know. And it's likely he already sent help for you.” She nudged her chin down to Toastie, who was currently, well, stealing some current from a vending stall, sneaking a little recharge from the thermal cells there. I snorted at the bad bot.

Cordelia prompted, turning our attention to her, “Care to share with the class, girls? Our security detail can’t trace any data streams from you, but it is obvious you’re somehow Framed in and using AR on some sort of untraceable network.”

I shrugged. “It’s nothing really. I just miss my parents.” It did no good to try to deny we had tunneled through their jamming frequency firewalls a few minutes after we left the; oh, yay, I get to say these words; after we left the secret lair. Gawd, I’m a hopeless geek, aren't I?

She shook her head, looking a cross between amazed and concerned. “We did a deep dive on you Doctor Konda. Your data has been wiped from the Frame and all databases now as well, but your notoriety and human intelligence can’t be suppressed as easily. How did someone so young become a leading professor of Frame Theory? Word on the wind is that you might have… other, skills which may not be as noble.

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