Chapter 18: Death Of A Friend

Pip launches into the air the moment Didi clears the exit.

"I'll check ahead," he says, so loudly Jackus could have heard him from about a two kilom radius. She just waves at the bird, grateful he's willing enough to come along without further argument.

The gunslinger is a continual surprise, and she finds herself glancing back over her shoulder to check on him as she moves through the paths in the trash. She needs to resist thinking of him as a person, but it's difficult when he acts so human.

There might come a time she has to sacrifice him for Dad. Personal feelings for him will not be permitted.

She stops at last and turns to him, waiting for him to catch up. It's obvious he's been keeping his distance, his long legs easily outdistancing her a pace as he strides past her before slowing again.

"You said you can tell if anyone is about?" If true, that's helpful.Means she won't have to worry so much about Jackus and his mates sneaking up on them.

"Indeed." The gunslinger's voice drops to the same volume as hers, hushed though she doesn't know why she's keeping it down. "My external scanners are fully functional."

"Good to know." She gives him that compliment grudgingly and trudges along beside him for a few minutes in silence, eyes scanning the darkening sky for Pip. Blikey crow, where did he wing off to this time? She can't go running after him if he's chasing his family's murder again. He'll be on his own.

"You do realize," the gunslinger says in that same conversational and yet instructional tone that puts her complaining, cantankerous mind to rest, "hitching a ride on a mag train isn't as simple as you might think?"

She hadn't thought that far ahead. "You're worried about the charge perimeter." Every mag train ran on a powerful magnet system, electrified and powerful enough to drive hundreds of cars at a time down the span toward the city.

"I am," he says. "The radius of the charge perimeter might prevent us from gaining access to the train itself."

"Unless we get on at a depot." There, she's solved it. And there's one just a few kilometers distant. "The train doesn't charge until after it's loaded."

"The depot itself?" He's thinking ahead, she should be grateful, but it feels like he's arguing with her, trying to find holes in her plan. Well, he is, isn't he? With good reason. Still, she's embedded in cranky right now and just wants things to be easy.

Why can't things be easy?

"I don't know." She knows she sounds petulant, as childlike as he called her earlier. He doesn't respond, his patience with her almost as annoying as his challenges to her plan. "We'll find out when we get there."

The black speck in the distance wings toward her like an arrow, Pip's inbound flight so rapid Didi holds up her hands in front of her face as he launches himself at her in a puff of feathers. The gunslinger's silver hand lashes out and catches the desperate crow at the last second, gently buffering the impact with a backward sweep of his arm. Pip pants in the gunslinger's grip before flapping awkwardly to Didi's outstretched arm.

"Putter," he gasps. "Something's wrong at Putter's."

Didi can't stop to worry about the old man or his creepy wife. She has her own father to rescue. But, though her mind tells her this in very stern terms, she's already turning to the gunslinger.

"How fast can you run?"

He lifts her into his arms without her asking. "Just tell me where to go."

She's never flown before, not really. Riding inside a skimmer isn't the same thing, though it feels amazing to slip over the surface of the trash on mags. This is entirely different as he lifts off, the thrusters in his boots carrying them up ten feet. Pip launches from her arm and flies off, the gunslinger following while Didi clings to his warm metal body and tries not to scream in terror.

The fear fades quickly, amazement and joy replacing it. She must be over tired, the desire to laugh out loud and spread her arms like a bird's wings so overpowering she turns her head purposely and looks forward. And instantly sobers at the sight of the plume of black, thick smoke rising in the distance.

Easy to see from up here, despite the encroaching night, and in Putter's territory. What else could it be but a tragedy?

The gunslinger has the smarts to stay low, at least. She doesn't have to tell him to be careful, though by the time they touch down in the small, cleared space outside what used to be Putter's, she's forgotten about Jackus and the Underlord and, for a second, even about Dad.

He blends into the background, his crumpled body cast off to one side near the crater that was his home. Didi knows instantly who is to blame for the attack, and wonders with hurt in her chest, if she's the reason the old man lies like a crumpled bag of trash near the ruin of his life.

She goes to him, kneels, expecting the worst. But, his chest rises once, a soft groan escaping. Shadow hovers over her, the gunslinger blocking the dimming sunlight. She hisses over her shoulder at him, enough of a command he steps out of the way and allows the brightness to return. Not a great choice, as it happens. It just makes the blood redder, the damage to Putter's old body more obvious. Didi gently cradles his head in her lap as his bleary eyes open.

He coughs softly, an apology in that sound, tears running from the corners of his eyes and through the wrinkled folds of his skin, into his wispy hair. He tries to touch her, but his hands just flutter.

"He's suffered a great deal of internal damage." The gunslinger's soft voice is an intrusion. Like she doesn't know already Putter is near death. "I'm sorry, there is nothing we can do."

She doesn't have anything to give the old man to ease his pain. All she can do is stroke his forehead with her fingertips as her own tears splash down on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry," she whispers around a knot in her throat that threatens to cut off her air.

"Didi." Putter sighs out her name, fingers fluttering. She bends forward to hear his whisper as his lips open, close, open again. When she does, his hand finally manages to move, to grasp her hair and pull her closer. "Pocket."

She looks down at him as his fingers fall away, a long, low exhale leaving him. What about his pocket? What is he talking about? There's a horrible hesitation in her as Putter's chest rises for the last time, the rattle in the back of his throat exiting with whatever kept him animate. She sees it as he dies, watches life leave him, the spark that was Putter no longer inside him.

In that instant, he's gone, just gone, a bag of meat and bone and blood. And yet, she can't bring herself to let him go just yet.

Pip lands on Putter's body, head down, cyborg eye whirling. "I'm sorry, Didi."

She shrugs, wipes at her face. "He said something about his pocket." As if it matters. But, it mattered to him, so she has to make the effort.

Pip's beak taps at the old man's chest, inside his thin, woven vest. Something metal rings back. Didi's fingers explore, digging out the metal box, gripping it in the palm of her hand. She gently settles Putter's head on the ground, backing away, turning to face the crater that was his home, the edges of the box cutting into her skin as she squeezes it.

If they killed him to get to her, she will make sure they die. But, as she looks down at the box in her hand, she can't help but wonder. Especially when she slides her thumb over the small scanner on the front, activating the lock. Keyed to her DNA.

Didi stares down at the small, golden chip nestled in a bed of foam. And knows then they killed Putter for something much greater than her. They killed him for this. And will do the same to her if they catch her.

She knows her father's work, is amazed at the delicate design. His finest creation. But, what does it do? A fission chip. She closes the box, heart pounding. Her father created a fission chip. It has to be more than that, have a greater purpose. But knowing her dad was capable of this...

Had she underestimated her own father all this time?

She tucks it into her bag, then thinks better of it. As she turns back to the gunslinger and Pip, she hides it in the folds of her skirt, against her skin, in the small pocket that houses the controls for her protections. If the Underlord wants it, he'll have to either give up her father or kill her for it.

***