Shun Steel's Arc

Chapter 3 of 6

The car cut through the dark toward the glowing base door. Shun watched the rocks ahead light up in cold blue and pink. Then his left arm buzzed wrong. The override module on the dash flickered orange, stuttered, and went dead. The ghost feed had collapsed. His mother had a clean read on him now. His ear clicked, but the line was empty. The crew was too far to patch it in time. Shun gripped the wheel with his metal hand and felt the scan crawl up his spine like a second pulse. Then something moved in the passenger seat. A small chip he had pulled from the trunk case hours ago. It blinked purple, then orange, then purple again. It chirped at him, soft and quick, like a thing waking up. The little neuro-chip lifted on its tiny pins and skittered across the leather toward his arm. Shun held still. The chip climbed his sleeve and pressed itself against the port under his wrist. It clicked in on its own. His arm went warm. The scan in his spine slowed, then twisted sideways. The live chip was eating the signal, feeding her something else. Not a loop. A living lie. The base door slid open as the car rolled inside. Shun killed the engine and looked at the small chip resting on his arm. It blinked up at him, slow and calm, like a pet that had done its trick. His mother still had a read, but it was no longer his. It was the chip's. Shun let out one slow breath. The thread to his blood was not cut. It was held now by something small and alive, riding with him. He stepped out into the base, the chip pulsing soft against his wrist. The next move was still his. And he was not driving alone.