The voice hadn't visited her again, but Piper could not shake off the sense that something bad was creeping up on her, an oily black presence reaching its fingers across the fetid waters of the river to grasp at her.

She woke the next day from a troubled sleep, irritable and sore, her implants feeling ill-at-ease, as though the presence of the thing still lingered, niggling at them. Wrestling herself into an academy issue skirt and tanktop, she slung on her un-badged jacket and stuffed her feet into a set of black trainers, then stepped out into the world of AmpCore.

At a glance, it wasn't all that different from when she'd first arrived here, the morning flow of students heading towards the academy mess hall, the stream of corporate adverts hurtling past them, the ranking tables pulsing accusingly on every wall.

Now twenty years old, Piper was around the middling range for the practitioners still in training at AmpCore. Some of the kids here were barely fourteen, shipped off by their corporate 'families' as soon as their bodies could handle the invasive grafting of the academy implants. Then the range ran right up to those in their early twenties; those like Toran and Odiye who, if the world of the corporations hadn't hit a very nasty speed bump, would have been well on their way to being fully qualified operatives by now.

So much for the sainted tech-corps of Hadrian and their order. Even Piper could see the rival cliques forming across the allied groups. Ever since the blame came of the wraith factory the corporations had been at each other's throats.

Shoulders square, she trudged into the academy's main mess hall, letting the scent of fresh coffee (or at least, a close approximation of it) and food wash over her. Eyes flashed her way as she entered, her presence at the academy still an anomaly to many of the regular students here. No corporate bankroll; no indentured contract – just a set of living implants that, according to the all the rules here, simply shouldn't exist.

From younger, curious students looking for a glimpse of the legend, to older, more embittered classmates, Piper ignored the lot, instead scanning the space for her friends. She found Odiye and Arrow at a table with a handful of other students, mostly Code Vector and Ardenne Industries that she could see. Toran, and his Skiltron allies, were conspicuous in their absence.

Gathering up a coffee and a synth-meat breakfast sandwich, Piper joined them, slotting herself firmly between Odiye and another student. The girl shuffled further away, shooting her an irritated look, but knew better than to push things any further.

Odiye flashed her an uneasy smile, his plate heaped with a steaming assortment of meats, eggs and bread. Opposite him, Arrow lounged with a large mug of coffee, their own plate already picked clean with only crumbs remaining.

"Where's Toran?" Piper asked, ripping off a chunk of her sandwich and chewing voraciously

"Confined to his quarters." Odiye swallowed down a forkful of his breakfast and cleared his throat. "They say it's a punishment, but I think it is for his own safety."

Piper washed the mouthful down with a slug of coffee and looked around. There was no sign of Vinder here either, but she could see some of the others from that group. More than one angry look came their way – guilty by association.

"Is it true what happened?" one of the younger students asked, looking at Odiye, wide-eyed. "Did he... did he kill her?"

"Fucking hell, Latimer," the girl beside him hissed, kicking him under the table. "You can't just ask something like that!"

"Keep it down," Arrow snapped, casting a glance over their shoulder at Vinder's allies, "unless you want to start another fight right here."

Latimer's cheeks reddened and he leaned forward, dropping his voice. "Sorry, I just... we've got a right to know, don't we?"

Odiye's coffee cup paused part-way to his lips as he considered the younger student. Then, he spoke quietly, lowering the mug until it clinked against the tabletop.

"Chorla challenged him to a duel. It got out of hand." His eyes hardened as he looked at Latimer. "That's all you need to know. Do not ask me again."

*

They finished a frosty breakfast and left the questions of their nominal allies behind. Truthfully, Piper didn't consider them as such. Most of them would turn and bite her quicker than a snake if they thought they could curry some favour with the right people.

With Arrow close behind, she followed Odiye through the AmpCore halls, out from the training halls and towards the one of the living blocks for the senior students. When they reached the corridor that she knew housed Toran's quarters, they found a pair of academy guards standing outside it. Both of them wore full armour, their long rifles held crossways across their chest.

Faceless helmets shimmered and turned at their approach.

"Stop," one of them grunted, the helmet grill spitting his voice out in a metallic grind.

Odiye halted, raising both hands. "We're just visiting a friend."

"Mr. Knox is confined to his quarters. He is not to be disturbed."

"We're not here to disturb him."

"Head Instructor Mattise has instructed that he remain isolated for his own protection."

Piper cocked an eyebrow. "You think we're going to hurt him?"

"We are just following orders."

A muffled voice suddenly sounded from within the room, bleeding out into the hall. The advertising strips and academy leader boards on the walls flickered for a moment.

"For fuck's sake, open the door and let them in!"

For a moment, no one spoke. Piper stifled a laugh as the two guards exchanged wary looks, their unease evident even through those opaque faceplates. No matter what he'd done, Toran Knox still had friends in high places. You never knew when it might cost you to be on someone's bad side around here.

"Five minutes," the second guard said eventually, giving his partner a nudge. With evident reluctance, the pair moved aside, and the door to the quarters slid open.

Toran stood waiting for them on the other side, arms folded across his chest, the academy issue t-shirt and trousers he wore doing nothing to hide his tough, brawny physique. Despite everything, he looked surprisingly fresh, his eyes bright, his shaggy brown hair shining and loose. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, his eyes passing from them, to his security guards and back again.

"I was wondering when you three would show up," he chuckled, stepping aside. "C'mon. It's a little cramped, but I think I can squeeze you all in."

Piper snorted in amusement as she sidled past him. Despite his breezy demeanour, she could feel the tension throbbing in his implants, a well of anger and frustration simmering right beneath his skin.

Once they were all inside, the door shut, and locked. Piper hunched her shoulders, shuffling over to stand at the far side of the room. Toran wriggled past Odiye and Arrow, plonking himself back down on the bed, where she could see a bottle of liquor poking out from beneath the pillow.

Looking her in the eye, he reached for it and dragged it free.

"Little early for that, isn't it?" Odiye risked.

Toran rolled his eyes. "Not much else for me to do in here." He took a gulp and offered the bottle to them, his face a picture of innocence. "No?"

"This whole 'I'm so damaged and self-destructive' thing is wearing pretty fucking thin, Toran," Piper growled, taking a sudden step forward and yanking the bottle out of his hand.

He glared up at her, and she felt his implants bow and tense with anger.

"See you've still got your charms," he muttered, extending a hand. "Give it back."

"No."

The lights flickered as Toran's implants seeped out a sliver of power. "So you're a therapist now?"

"We risked our necks jumping into the middle of that mess," she retorted. "You could do us at least stay sober long enough to tell us what the hell happened."

"I never asked any of you to get involved," he snapped, rising off the bed again. For a moment she thought he was going to grab for the bottle, but instead he stepped past her, touching the palm of his hand to the mini-refrigerator built into the back wall of the room.

It hissed open, and he picked out a bottle of water, most of its clear surface obscured by the garish, colourful label of Highness Hydro Solutions. Casting Piper a withering look, he opened it and sat down again, taking a long gulp.

"Toran, I..." Arrow eventually broke the ensuing silence, shaking their head, uncomprehending. "What happened back there, with Chorla?"

"What do you think happened?!" he erupted, rage flashing across his face. Piper could see the muscles in his neck standing out taut with anger, his whole body shaking. "Ferra's old buddies from before she got all mixed up with filthy Skiltron. With me. Never mind that half of Wayfinder had themselves balls-deep in that wraith factory – they think it's all my fault. As if she meant more to any of them than she did to me."

His eyes shone, and Piper saw the twitch beneath his skin. The tears receded as quickly as they'd threatened to come.

"So they wanted revenge?" she asked.

"What do you think?"

"I thought you were to duel," Odiye said quietly, edging in front of Piper. "To settle your differences the proper way."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Odiye, are you really still hanging on to the idea that we've got something as novel as honour around here?"

Odiye twitched, jaw tight. "So, you set out to kill her?" he bit out after a moment.

"No, I didn't plan to kill anybody. I'm not as bloodthirsty as you all seem to think." Toran dragged one hand wearily down his face with a sigh. "If I could have ended it peacefully, I would have. She didn't give me a choice, none of them did."

"So where does that leave you?" Arrow asked.

He made a bleak gesture to his surroundings.

"Daddy not going to help you out?" Piper suggested, giving him a knowing smile. Toran's father was a heavy-hitting executive in Skiltron Fireware, and since the incident with the wraiths the Knox currency had only climbed.

Frankly, she was surprised Vinder and the others had had the spine to go after him like this.

"It's my dad that put me in here," Toran laughed bitterly. "For my own safety apparently, until they can lean on Mattise and the instructors to put a leash on Vinder."

"And how long's that going to take?"

He shrugged. "Chorla's dead. Could take a while to twist me out of that one, even if she did have it coming."

Piper felt that perhaps Toran was more bloodthirsty than he realised.

"So what should we do?" Arrow looked around the room uneasily, their eyes suspicious. "Mattise isn't going to let Skiltron push him around anymore. You've seen him. He's trying to keep the board at arms length now."

"He can try," Toran replied, taking another sip of water, "but if he pushes back too hard, he's going to find himself in even more trouble than I am." Sighing, he pivoted and laid back onto the bed, closing his eyes. "In the meantime, you three should watch your backs. Vinder and his crew, they know you helped me, and Skiltron are not going to be looking out for anyone except their own right now."

"You think they'd come after us?"

"Piper, in case you forgot, you're still on everybody's top commodity list." He inclined his head to the empty patch on her jacket. "Yeah, I think they'd come after you. Might not kill you, but if they can get AmpCore's unique little cyborg tagged and collared, it'd send a big message to the other corps."

"Good to know I'm still such a high commodity."

"I'm not joking, Piper."

She met his gaze; nodded. "I know." With a sigh, she handed him the bottle of liquor back. Toran smiled thinly, then motioned them to the door. "You'd better go. Wouldn't want my security detail to start getting twitchy."

Odiye and Arrow both looked like they had plenty more to say, but Piper could tell Toran's patience was fraying fast. He was doing his best to hide it, but the cocktail of emotions was seeping out into the air from his implants. The living metal of her own grafts seemed to be more sensitive to those minute fluctuations than most.

So she turned, giving her companions a warning glance.

They got the message.

"Stay safe, Toran," Odiye told him as they turned to leave.

"You too, Tambo."

They stepped out over the threshold, passing between the two guards who visibly relaxed at the sight of them leaving. The door slid shut behind them and Piper started off down the hallway

"Toran, he is not himself," Odiye muttered once they were out of earshot of the guards. "What happened to Ferra..."

"Let him be," Piper advised. "He's safer in there right now than any of us." She reached out and gave his arm a gentle squeeze. His muscle tensed beneath her touch and a faint thrill tremored through her body at the contact.

Piper suppressed the feeling. After their one night liaison several weeks ago, things between her and Odiye had been a little... odd. The event hadn't been repeated – hell, they'd barely spoken about it, any potential romantic entanglements being quickly overshadowed by events. In the lull since the discovery of the AI, however, a lot of things remained unsaid. Even unacknowledged.

And again, a new crisis was bulldozing through her

Clearing her throat, she released her grip on him and cast a pointed look at Arrow. "Besides, I need to talk to you both. Alone."

*

'Alone' in AmpCore was a relative term. In the academy proper, it was not a state that could truly be achieved, not with the sensor strips and security cameras that infested every hall, class and training room.

Piper had, however, found a few bolt-holes over her time here that served as private spaces, where one could converse away from prying eyes. For this occasion, she picked out a disused mess hall, a small, cold chamber with long-dormant food processors, dead screens and neatly stacked tables and chairs. All tucked away down here and forgotten about.

She leaned against one of the tables, amplifier glowing in one hand as she searched the surrounding area for any kind of active surveillance. Finding nothing beyond the hum of AmpCore's power grid, she nodded to Odiye and Arrow as the pair joined her in the dim-lit chamber.

"Piper," Odiye said, looking thoroughly ill-at-ease, "it is never good when you bring us to places like this."

"Hey, I'm not thrilled about it either."

"We'd better make this quick," Arrow advised, casting a furtive glance around the dark space. "They've been sending drones through these sections more and more recently."

"This won't take long. Just keep a watch on the grid, eh?"

They nodded, amplifier tremoring as they slowly crawled a grid out into the surrounding hallways, watching for any unwanted guests.

"So, what is so important?" they asked.

"It's about Cassie."

"The voice – the intelligence?" Odiye tapped the side of his head. "The one in here?"

"Yes," Piper half-lied. So far, only she knew about the presence contacting her from... somewhere else, and she didn't want to tell anyone about it, not yet. Fear of what might happen if that information got into the wrong hands kept her paranoid. Around the corporations, paranoia was a healthy trait to have, she felt.

"There was a message, something Cassie picked up from the datastream. I'm not sure where it came from, but it showed me something. Something bad."

Odiye's shoulders deflated. "How bad?"

Piper launched into an edited account of her exchange with the intelligence that had accosted her, dripping out enough of the details that she knew would hook her companions. She left the source of the information as just an anonymous burst of data plucked from the air by Cassie. When she finished talking, Odiye was positively squirming with discomfort. He folded his arms tight, eyes squeezed shut.

"Let me see if I am understanding this correctly," he muttered. "You believe that something has crossed the river from Hadrian South and has started killing people?"
"That's what I saw. That's what was in the datastream." She spread her hands, giving him a pitying look. "C'mon, Odiye, is it really so hard to believe? Would you have believed that the corps were rebuilding the wraiths? Would you have believed that they rebuilt an AI?"

"This is different," he said quickly, looking at her. "The corporations choosing to make a mistake is one thing. That something from across the water could somehow cross the river... there is nothing left over there but madness and killers."

"That's what we were all taught," Piper persisted, stepping closer to him. "But I know what I saw Odiye. I know how it sounds, but I don't want to just sit around here flicking sparks only to have this come around and bite my fucking head off."

"But how?" Odiye began pacing, his brow furrowing with unease. "I've been on the bridge, Piper. I've been closer to Hadrian South than most people. It is a dead wasteland."

"Maybe something was just biding its time?"

"Shit," Arrow breathed.

"What?"

"Holly."

Piper raised a bemused eyebrow. "Holly? What about her?"

"It was one of the last things she said to me before she..." Arrow winced. "That night, at the facility. She was trying to justify what they'd done down there. She said that 'living things evolve'; that something was happening in Hadrian South." They pressed their lips together, leaning against the wall and folding their arms. "Like something was happening out there that we didn't know about. That we didn't understand." They shook their head slowly. "Maybe this is what she was talking about?"

"You only mentioned this now?" Odiye exclaimed.

"Well, I didn't know what it meant at the time!" Arrow shot back. "I thought it was just all bullshit she'd been fed so she would stick with the programme. But with this," they gestured to Piper, "maybe there was some truth to what she was saying."

A leaden feeling settled in the base of her stomach, and Piper sighed. "Well, we've only got the word of the corps that they dealt with everything across the water back in the Schism. It wouldn't exactly shock me to find out that they fucked that up, too."

"I guess not."

"So, what do you want to do?" Odiye looked doubtful. "You know Mattise has tightened up all excursion procedures. We'll never get leave to go out to investigate this – especially after what happened yesterday. We need hard evidence, and even then..."

"I'll talk to him. He'll listen to me."

"You don't know that."

"He helped us before."

"Piper, this is not the same."

"He knows what's happening – he knows what's in my head." Piper tapped her temple. "I have to try."

Arrow cocked a dubious eyebrow. "And if he says no?"

"Then, I guess we're going to have to plan another breakout, aren't we?"

||