531

It was dinner time before Chan Yi finally returned home to the Builds. He paced in front of an open window, staring out at the skyline. The air was damp. On the edge of rain, he felt storms in the air. The neon of the Piles created a glow over the lower levels; a false day when the sun rarely penetrated the levels to reach the dank, dark of it.

He felt haunted tonight. He leaned forward and pressed his head against the glass, trying to remember a time when hadn’t. Before Two had died. Or … set him free. Two wasn’t dead. Even with his ability to process, how was he supposed to deal with that?

But was he alive? Two didn’t recognize him. If they had managed to erase his memories, to take away the programming that had given rise to their emotions in the first place, would that body still be Two? Or would he just be 532?

Yi pushed off the wall and thought about taking a run. His body didn’t get restless, but his mind was another matter, and he was never good at being still while his mind raced. He didn’t need food or sleep. He didn’t need to be home tonight, so he decided to get out. He changed into black clothes and locked up his place as he left.

His motorcycle rumbled under him as he hit the road, and the wind whistled past him. The roads were never empty in the Builds, but there was room for him to play. He weaved around traffic and raced past other vehicles. He had no destination tonight. Just a need to race ahead of his thoughts.

He drove down the tunnel to reach the lower levels of the Piles and felt the splash of rain as it began to fall around him. The streets pooled in blood-red water, but Yi drove through it without stop. Tonight, the discomfort of his body was far less important than the memories that pulled at him.

Two. Over and over again. Two. Even when he tried to think about Fulmer, tried to remember the case that had sent him on this path, his thoughts were drawn back to Two.

Charity Fulmer was safe. Her husband was still missing, but Two was involved. If he wanted to solve the Fulmer case, he needed to understand what had happened to Two.

The lights of the Piles became too much, and he left the glaring neon. He drove above the Piles, then above the Builds. He entered the streets high above the world he lived in. He drove on roads that were untouched by the rain that fell on the levels below. Above the cloud line and protected from weather, the streets were pristine. The Skylines were pristine.

These streets were quiet, and the roads were clear for him. He lost himself in the feel of the road under him and the wind in his ears. The bike responded to the slightest movements of his body, and he left his pain behind him.

Until he pulled the bike to a stop and realized where he’d been heading.

Standing high even in the Skylines, the Mariner Tech building shone like a beacon. Three sectors over, another building stood almost as high. It had no name on the side, no company logo to betray its maker’s secrecy.

Yi had made a choice, 7 years ago, that had destroyed a good portion of that building. It had destroyed his life. It had destroyed the only person he would ever love.

He drove slower, taking his time to circle the building. It was still mostly empty. The damage that had been done that night would take too much work to rebuild. Mariner Tech didn’t demolish anything easily though. There were other uses for it.

Tonight, agents hovered around the door trying to look inconspicuous.

He drove away before they decided to check him out. He didn’t want trouble tonight. He’d just come for-

Why had he come? To remember that night? Every moment was trapped in perfect clarity in his mind. A gun against Two’s head. Two’s scream for Yi to run. His refusal. Two’s sacrifice and Yi’s unwilling escape.

He pulled away from the main street but stopped quickly when his comm system went off. He ran it through his inner comm, so he didn’t have to remove the helmet he wore.

“Hello?”

“53- uh, Chan Yi. Its Atieno. Obuo.”

“I know who you are doctor. Do you have something for me?”

“You should forget about this, Yi. Is the truth about 532 really worth it?” she asked.

He couldn’t begin to describe what Two meant to him, so he didn’t try. “What do you have?”

“You were right. Someone protected me. I asked him to tell me where 532 was and he gave me an address. It’s in the Skylines, Yi.”

He looked over his shoulder at the building behind him. When he looked deeper with his sensors, he could see the guards lined up around the entrances and exits. On the thirty-seventh floor - the floor that had been blown apart when Yi had escaped - two human bodies waited with something that wasn’t quite human.

“The old lab building for Mariner Tech?” he asked Obuo.

“531, how did you k-”

“It’s Chan Yi,” he reminded her. Whoever was protecting her knew about him. They were setting him up. “I’m already there.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Find Two. Escape. Get as far away from Mariner Tech as I can.”

“It’s not possible. You know what they’ll do. They’ll never let you go.”

“Then I’ll burn the whole damn place to the ground. I don’t care if the Skyline burns, so long as I get Two.”

He disconnected the comm and looked at the building where it had all started. They were waiting for him.

It was time to go home.