Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [77]
He couldn’t breathe only this time it wasn’t because of the foul air. Rosette felt different, distracted, like he’d never experienced before. The sweet connection and warmth were gone. He groaned. Of course she would be detached. It’s self-protection. He’d told her he couldn’t continue their relationship, that it was too complicated for him. He pulled her back to him. ‘I’m an idiot,’ he said. ‘Rosette, we have to talk.’
‘You’re certainly not an idiot. You’re a quantum geneticist, and you’d better remember everything you were ever taught. We can’t stop now. We have a quantum computer to build.’ She led him up the hill, tugging him when he dragged his heels.
‘What is the urgency? An’ Lawrence still missing? What’s happened?’
‘Not An’ Lawrence. I found him, twice. It’s Jarrod,’ she said. ‘We’ve lost him.’
‘Lost? As in misplaced?’
‘Lost, as in body-dead.’
Grayson felt the blood drain from his face. ‘You want to use the backup? Passillo?’
‘The spell, yes. That’s why we need you. Come on.’ She yanked him. ‘Grayson, what’s the matter? We are in a hurry!’
He didn’t budge even though she tugged again. ‘Rosette,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘Know what?’
‘That’s not how it works.’
‘How what works?’
‘The backup.’
‘Of course it is. That’s the whole point in having it squirrelled away in my blood—so we can re-boot Jarrod if we lose him.’
‘Rosette, darling. That’s not it.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s there to ensure the continuation of Jarrod all right, but I don’t think you need to build another quantum computer to activate it.’
She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, from what I understood, the CPU is designed to boot up right where it is.’
‘Where it is?’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘That’s ridiculous. It’s in me.’
‘Janis wanted to guarantee the continuation of the Jarrod, at any price.’
‘Price?’ She frowned.
‘The CPU sequestered in your DNA is a failsafe, activated if there is no other possible way to restore him. That’s in all the notes.’
‘I understand but…’
‘Are you sure his consciousness hasn’t gone elsewhere?’
‘If it has, we can’t reach him.’ Rosette’s hands encircled her belly. ‘Grayson, what price? What happens, exactly, when the CPU is activated? How do we get him back without a computer? He needs to be somewhere while he creates another tulpa.’
‘He does. That part’s true. He needs…housing.’
She frowned for a moment, looking at her feet. ‘Housing?’
‘Hardware.’
Rosette looked up. ‘So what happens to me if I activate the spell?’
Grayson cleared his throat. ‘I don’t know. It’s never been done before.’
CHAPTER 11
CORSANON, GAELA & BORDERLANDS, EARTH
Xane walked back to the military stables. They wanted to take him by donkey cart but he told them he felt fine—the air would do him good. It was a lie. He felt like a herd of grunnies had trampled him into the ground, but he could handle it. He had to find Shaea and assure her that he was well. She’d be sick with worry. She always got that way if something happened to him; such a sensitive girl.
He searched every burnt-out alley and street he knew. There were plenty of beggars lining the gutters and scavenging the bins—going through the wreckage wrought by fire and storm—but there was no sign of Shaea. Could she have been trapped in a burning building? Caught in the flood? There was plenty of talk at the healers’ temple about the foreign spells that ripped through Corsanon last night—some demon warrior from the west caused it all. Could she have got in the way of his magic? Shaea, where are you?
Maybe she’d been out digging for yams when he was shot. She might have raced to the battlefield to find him. Foolish girl. He imagined her scrambling down the quarry steps, her rag of a dress like a tattered flag, the iron smell of battle in the air. Did you get lost, Shaea? Maybe the witch Rall would know, but he couldn’t find her either.
He turned a corner and a vision filled his mind. He was on the quarry steps. They were slick with rain and a torrent roared in his ears. It was dark, night-time, and his eyes were locked