<Hello, Caohdan> 

The black console sprang to life in front of Caohdan, the white letters slowly scrolling across the screen. He nearly fell out of his chair as he tried to get up away from the desk. 

<...It's me, Atticus...>

"Atticus?" 

Caohdan stood frozen in shock. 

<...And Caleb...>

"How did you get out? How are you in there?" Caohdan sat down feeling woozy. His scars were mostly healed. At least the physical ones. The mental scars would take much longer.

<...Tristin connected us to the house....>

Caohdan considered this. The grid would have made an interesting escape route. 

He turned and looked at the box behind him. How hard would it be to release them all?

It had been two weeks since the death of his cousin and his parents. The city was cleaning up, and Nexus itself, once a hub of activity had an air of mourning. The schools had counselors, but there really wasn't a single person who was prepared for the number of missing students. There was no explanation for the ones that weren't coming back. At least not one that would satisfy the parents.

So many deaths. Now there were guards on every corner keeping the peace. Riots were a daily occurrence. They were calling it The Purge.

"Tristin..." Caohdan felt the emotional tidal wave roll over him every time he thought of his cousin. "He's gone."

There was no response and Caohdan began to wonder if Atticus was still there or if he'd just dreamed the conversation. The console was entirely black.

<I'm sorry...>

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Atticus, how do I get you both out?"

<Need to find siren shells... there are some, but I'm not sure where they'd exist outside the mainframe>

Caohdan pondered this. A siren shell was generally reserved for AI transitioning to life outside the mainframe. They went through counseling for it because no one really knew what an AI felt as far as senses. They still had to adapt to the physical world.

"Ok, not sure how that would work but we could try it, in the meantime, how are you? How was the box?"

<Needs... an interior...>

"I was afraid you were going to say that, the rest of the AI are in the other box still."

<You have them?>

"Yes," Caohdan. 

<Tristin isn't dead, you know. They took him to Helion 7...>

Caohdan's jaw dropped. He was certain that his cousin had gone to meet his maker. They'd mourned for the whole family, the city had taken all the bodies and cremated them to get rid of the infernal devices.

It wasn't much hope but it was something he could hold on to. He wasn't down yet.

"We'll need to get these guys off-world," he slowly sank into the chair. "We need to get the AI off-world, and into... something."

<How will you bring a box?>

"Funny thing," Caohdan said, his face breaking out into a smile. "This also doubles as a suitcase." He picked up the legion box and cracked it open. There was space inside for his clothes, the outside had been carefully fitted around the interior. 

"I had to make hide it, this seemed like the best choice."

<I'm sorry I didn't get more to you...>

"I'm sorry I didn't get more inside the legion box," Caohdan whispered. "But we'll get them to safety. How will I reach you and Caleb?"

<We'll be here, hiding. It's not so bad, the grid. There's something out there though, Caleb and I can both sense it. A pulse that's drawing us, a signal...>

Caohdan wished he could see his friend's face again right now. Even for a moment.

His door swung open and his father poked his face in. Aaron Korbel had aged 10 years in two weeks. There were lines on his face that hadn't existed three weeks ago. He was no longer sure of himself or his position in Nexus. 

"Pack your bag," he said sternly to his son.

"Why?" 

"We're taking the first flight off of Nexus," Aaron said. "Tonight if you get moving."

Caohdan looked back at the screen in front of him.

<Good...> Atticus wrote. <Don't forget the legion.>

-------------------------

Ash stood at the helm of his cargo ship. There were plenty of refugees fleeing the inner worlds. Most had lost family, many were hoping to get to Helion 7 just to see what was left of their removed sibling, father. It didn't matter. The stories were all the same. A purge had happened, and Neo-Tokyo had rid itself of those it considered dangerous.

Ash felt the anger bristle under the surface. He could sense the outcry from the mainframe when it went down. He was an auger, it was as if a million stars had simply winked out. He'd had to watch other augers go out one by one. Augers had abilities beyond most augments, the ability to hear an AI, and dip into the mainframe. It was an expensive upgrade. Nothing on par with what the Neo-Tokyans had kept for themselves. Their ship to human augments, also known as Vespers, and their augers were some of the first to go. 

There was always a way through the cracks though, and for rats like him, it was adapt or die. Ash had kept himself and his best friend alive, Blue as he was affectionately known. It was surprisingly easy to alter their statuses to simply read 'deceased.' People would see what they wanted. 

Just as they did now, walking past his ship, talking to his second in command, a beautiful but dangerous woman named Tara Holt. The redhead, a rarity these days kept them dazzled with her sleek personality, even as they ogled her. He allowed this, knowing the less they stared at him, the better. He was an augment hiding in plain sight. A good EMP would knock his systems out and leave him exposed. 

He drank a mug of coffee Tara had left him. He felt the pulse before he saw it. A chorus of voices. Disturbed he looked around. 

It was not man, but machine. He stepped forward only to see Tara refusing a family entrance. 

"Just a second," he sidled up to her. He looked at the man, scars revealed he'd just had surgery to remove his augments. He felt a twinge of pity and then expunged it. Adapt or die, sir.

The man had a boy and a woman with him, probably his wife. But it was the boy who drew Ash's attention. He looked down at him curiously, the voices growing louder.

<Quiet down, I can hear you loud and clear!>

"I see you've brought payment?"

"It's everything I have," Aaron said. 

He turned to Tara, "It's enough, get them on board."

"But Captain, we have Jack on board with us, won't this be conspicuous enough?"

Ash eyed the suitcase the boy was trailing behind him with interest. He locked eyes with the boy who went pale. "No, I think we'll have plenty to discuss here. Get them on board and settled. They can have my quarters."

Tara's jaw dropped but she didn't argue. 

"Thank you," Aaron sighed in relief, his shoulders sagging. His wife Leasia managed a grateful smile as she pulled the boy closer. 

"What're your names?"

"Korbel, Aaron, Leasia, and Caohdan."

He looked down at the boy again. "You carrying the weight of an army on your shoulders, kid."

Leasia put a protective arm around Caohdan as he locked eyes with Ash, surprise written across his features.

"He's just been through a lot," His mother said, steering him away. "Thank you, sir."

Ash nodded but kept his gaze on the kid, to whom he gave a slight nod. 

"Notice they didn't even ask where we were going," he said to Tara. 

The doors slid up and the Korbel family waited inside. 

"This way," she said. Ash followed them through the halls of his ship. A month ago, he'd busted a Neo-Tokyan merchant for this vessel. The man had 'donated' it to him, and Ash had spent a few weeks banging out the hull, giving it the appearance of being an old bruiser. The manifesto had been remade to fit his new identity. He'd picked Tara back up off of Six, and they'd made for the inner planets knowing with the Purge business happening, there would be business on their side of the law. 

"Who are they?" Tara whispered as they walked ahead. 

"I don't know yet," Ash said. "But the boy has a legion of AI on him somehow. I'd wager he took half of the mainframe with him."

Tara sucked in a breath before darting a glance back at the kid. This time with a little more respect.  

"I'd also wager, Jack needs more AI on his 'project' and these two should have a conversation on Six when we get there."

"You just want to visit Blue," she muttered.

"You just want to avoid Carl."

"He's got weird ideas about settling down and making babies."

Ash laughed. Neo-Tokyo had robbed him of that ability as well. "Let's get them to Six and regroup, this is the first bit of hope I've seen in a while."

---------------------------

"This is wrong." 

Thea stood in front of the Cradle Unit on Nexus. It was the largest and oldest birthing center for AI in the Empire. But right now it was full of soldiers with EMPs. Half her AI staff were down on the floor, simply gone. Her augmented staff were cuffed, EMPed, and marched off to prison. 

"There are still a few left in the rooms, you'll kill them."

"You can't kill something that's never been alive," the grayed-out, seven-starred insignia uniformed soldier moved to shut down the unit. "There will be no more AI births by decree from Neo-Tokyo."

"But--"

"Arrest her," the blonde-haired blue-eyed man roughly shoved her aside. She crashed into the wall. Rough hands pulled her up.

Thea panicked. This was her life's work, bringing AI from the cradle to a new life. They never understood how the births happened, but each came out with their own set of personalities. They went through schools and were adapted to a job. Sometimes they even came as twins holding to each other with thin strands of code. They were very much alive, like humans, they had their own sets of codes, proclivities, wants, and needs. They simply grew faster than a human child. 

She loved seeing them grow, learn, and choose which world they wanted to work in.

There were several silver balls sitting on the floor, they'd been floating ten minutes ago, inhabited by a learning AI. 

Thea watched dimly as the lights went out and the power to the Cradle Unit fizzled and died.

They waited, but nothing else disturbed them. 

The soldier holding Thea released her and she dropped to her knees her hand reaching for the silver ball closest to her.

"We'll take her to the Perihelion, it's the closest," Blondie said. "They do want to question her thoroughly. Burn the rest."

"No!" Thea shrieked but was dragged out of the room. No one noticed the silver ball she slipped into her pocket. Thea understood something the soldiers did not. No power simply meant dormant, not dead. She struggled but in the end, only managed to get onto The Perihelion with one silver ball tucked into her pocket. 

In her room, she pulled the ball out and examined it closely. Then she plugged it into the nearest outlet. "I don't know if you are still in there little Angel, but here's a whole ship to learn on."

Thea sighed as her whole world dissolved into the night. 

(1797)