Chapter 19: Compromise

Didi heads for the nearest rail depot on foot, forgetting in her determination she has a quicker way to go. But, when the gunslinger fails to offer a ride even after her mind tells her he could carry her, she spins to find he's not followed.

Instead, he watches her from twenty feet away, immobile and quiet.

"What?" They have to get out of here, if only to escape the stench of decay and the crisped flesh of Putter's fallen body.

"What does the chip do, Didi?" He watches her with those glowing blue eye slits, making her uncomfortable.

"I don't know." And she might not tell him if she did. Not from the way he's staring at her like that.

"I see." He hesitates, though she's sure this time it's not his damaged systems working around the issue. "You do realize it could be for a weapon." He taps his chest with one fist, the metal ringing against metal. She thought she was careful, shielding it from him, but he's seen more with his enhanced vision than she expected. Not that she purposely hid it from him-or did she? She's so confused by the fears and doubts running around in her head, Didi feels off balance, like she's in a dream. "That's a fission chip, Didi. Like the one powering me."

She's hardly an idiot, is she? "I'm well aware of what it is, G.S." She turns her back on him, shoulders tight and aching. They really don't have time to stand around and talk about this. "So?"

"So." The gunslinger finally moves, a step toward her that feels like a gentle, careful approach as though he expects her to run away from him. "Until we know what that chip does, we have to be cautious." The gunslinger's voice sounds reasonable enough, but she knows there's authority behind it. "We can't simply hand it over to the Underlord in exchange for your father." He pauses as Pip rises to sit on his shoulder, the traitor. Her crow should be with her, not physically supporting the gunslinger's words. "You must know that already."

She shakes her head, backing away that ground he closed between them, hand clutching at the small pouch where she's secreted the chip. "You obey my orders, G.S.," she says, trying to keep her voice low and steady but hearing the hiccup of stress in it. "That's the agreement."

"Not if it means handing over power to the Underlords," the gunslinger says. There's that reasonable tone again, making her head spin, her chest ache. "The Galactic Conjunction authorities must be allowed an opportunity to examine it. Surely you understand the risks, Didi. The Underlords were powerful when I was functioning. I can only imagine their authority has grown over the last half century." His voice quavers then settles. "I must be malfunctioning," he mutters, "to be able to speak so. But, that doesn't make it any less true."

She can't argue with him. She has no grounds for debate. But, she does have the chip in her possession and her father is her only priority. Since when did the Galactic Conjunction give a fairy's fart for Didi Duke and her father? Why should she return the favor?

"Didi, be reasonable." Pip has turned tail feathers for certain. She shouldn't be surprised, but the hurt his words cause make her inhale with a painful breath. "Your father hid this chip with Putter for a reason. Even he didn't want it falling into the wrong hands." She doesn't want to listen as the crow goes on, because there's a deeper, more agonizing thread to this conversation. The fact her own father didn't trust her with what he was doing, didn't tell her about the chip or his association with Putter.

He trusted that old man over her. And that fact is killing her slowly.

"I don't care about the stupid Galactic Conjunction," Didi says, words hot, searing her throat on the way out. "I don't care about right or wrong or either of you or your blikey opinions. All I care about," she stabs the air between herself and the gunslinger and her traitor of a cyborg crow, "is finding and rescuing my father." And to the depths of the trash with these two if they get in her way. "I'm taking this chip to the Underlord and I'm getting Dad back. You two can do whatever you want. But don't even think about getting in my way."

The gunslinger moves so fast she's in shock. His silver body blurs as he crosses the distance between them, suddenly standing between her and the path she's on, the path leading out from the carnage of Putter's former life. He doesn't touch her, but his bulk blocks her way.

"Didi," he says, soft and low, kind but sad. "I can't let you do that."

Fury rages inside her, but she stands there, shaking and impotent, knowing he's stronger, he's faster and she's in trouble. "You'd rather go to the same authorities who decommed you and your kind and left you to rot on a trash planet instead of giving you the humane burial you were promised?" She pokes his chest with her finger, needing some physical outlet for her anger, tingling pain running up her hand as she hits him harder than she thought. "Is that it, gunslinger? You want to trust those who can't even protect their own from corruption and lies and treat you like rugging garbage?"

He doesn't comment, just stands there, an immobile mountain of plastanium.

"How dare you betray me after I saved your blarging life." Spit flies from her lips, her trembling uncontrollable now. She wishes she was stronger, shakes with her need to push him out of her way. She's never felt so helpless, not even when Jackus attacked her or when the trash rats had her in their lair. This helplessness comes from knowing she can act, knowing she has what she needs to save Dad, only to find the tool she raised to help her stands in her way.

Pip was right. She should have left the gunslinger to rot with his fellows and just done this herself.

"I believe," the stupid bird quips, his arrogance making her teeth grind painfully together, "he returned that favor, Didi. Listen to him."

She'll take him apart when she gets her hands on Pip, revert him to the pile of crushed bones and dying corbie he was and just see if she doesn't. He must sense her thoughts because he squawks and ducks his head behind the gunslinger, shivering.

"I'll shut the both of you down." It's an empty threat, at least to the giant cyborg in front of her. He's too fast, she'd never beat him to the panel in his chest.

"A compromise." The gunslinger holds out his hand. "I promise you, Didi, no matter what it takes, I will rescue your father or die trying. But, only if you agree to hand over the chip to the authorities."

She wavers, can't help herself. She's so tired suddenly. This has been a massive blow to her existence, to the life she's found so comfortable and, for a brief moment, she sags inside herself. It would be easy to hand the chip over to the gunslinger, to let him do what he says he'll do. She has no doubt he's telling her the truth. He can't lie to her, at least as far as she knows. Though, he's damaged, isn't he? Maybe that's not true anymore. But, she can't help but trust him, to believe the words he's said. His sincerity is too palpable, a living thing pulsing between them.

He will end his own life to save her father. How much more can she ask for?

"Just trust him, Didi." Pip's voice is as soft as the gunslinger's. As caring. "Please. You know Tarvis would want you to be safe. And, he hid this chip for a reason. Even your dad doesn't want the Underlord to have it."

There is that. And, it's the final truth that wins over Didi's heart and mind.

Not that she's happy about it. She crosses her arms over her chest and shrugs, looking away toward where she knows the mag line crosses the trash. "I'll agree," she says. "But we get Dad first. Then we turn the chip over. Just to be safe."

The gunslinger nods slowly. "Unless we encounter an opportunity to recruit the aid of the Conjunction."

He had to suggest it. "Fine." She pushes past him at last and he lets her, pivoting his body so she can keep going up the path. It irritates her to no end he has so much power over her.

***

He follows her on heavy feet, though his body is as light and powerful as ever. His programming overwrites so much of his humanity, but that damaged part of his brain he's allowing to function seems stronger than the subroutines his creators put in place to control him. It's a dichotomy he's unused to, and only makes the phantom image of the laughing girl all the more real.

There are moments he pauses and feels her there, as though he could reach out and touch her. Has had to hold himself still to keep his arm from rising to do so. He is uncertain if the girl Didi has noticed his lapses, but they are growing more frequent and the gunslinger wonders if he will remain functional long enough to save her father after all.

He must try. And complete his mission before his countdown ends in thirteen hours and he self-destructs.

His confused systems almost miss the approach of danger. But, in the end, he is a gunslinger. And his instincts take over even before his cyborg enhancements know he's moving.

***