Canada had a new mountain range, right in the middle. Before Sliceday it had been a forest the size of Europe.

New mountains that weren't the result of volcanic activity weren't a well-studied phenomenon. These ones had sprouted over five years without earthquakes or explosions or other geological theatrics; but they were here and there was no denying it.

Lots of caves. That's where we were; in a hidey hole the size of a shopping mall. Light filtered in through an honest-to-god window overhead, one that had been formed of what had to be quartz, but it was polished and clear. It looked up through a rushing river. Fish would drift by up there. Was this a natural formation? Probably not, but it was interesting. It was cool.

The sound of falling water filled the air. So did the voice of Preston Covenant, the captive voice of a rebellion.

"I'm hungry," he said. "I need to go to the bathroom. I need to get back to my people. My face is getting infected. Okay so you didn't break any bones but you did beat me up pretty bad, Owen. I don't think this was called for. I don't think you understand the rules of war."

"Give it a rest," Lux said. She was in good spirits, I was delighted to see. We'd found an abandoned Costco, one full of clothing, shoes, camping equipment, first aid kit for Todd. Its parking lot had been filled with trucks laden with merchandise, all just sitting there.

Lux had filled up the Jeep with stuff, so many items I'd lost track.

"Why didn't we just stay in the Costco," Todd lamented. "There was lots of stuff and I know we could have gotten electricity. They had those little generators."

I had a terrible headache. Everything ached, actually. I'd downed a fistful of bulk Tylenol and either I was a real mess or it had expired long ago. I was no longer buzzing with that crazy violence. I was just me again.

The whole thing now seemed like a nightmare, one where I hadn't been able to wake, but I'd given the monsters something to think about.

"Why am I even here?" said Todd. "I'm not even tied up anymore, what's that all about?" His face wasn't looking infected. We'd patched him up and found only superficial scratches. Not even a black eye. Rather disappointing.

I watched him sourly. "You go running off into the jungle that'll be it, I think."

He scowled. I'd been learning a lot about ol' Todd. He wasn't particularly sharp. Gullible, easily led. "I don't like you, Todd."

"I'm not a fan of yours either," he said. Then his scraped-up face collapsed into dismay. As if he thought I'd slap him around some more.

"You know what I think?" I said. "You're not anything. You're just the spokesmodel, aren't you? I took you with me to get information from you and I'm betting you won't have anything at all."

He frowned, started to speak. Then stopped. Now see here you beastly fellow, I know prodigious HEAPS of highly-spiced secrets, he'd been about to say. Then realized the flaw in his reasoning.

"I'm glad you're with us, though," I said. "Aren't you glad he's with us, Lux?"

"Yeah, no question. A ray of constant sunshine, that's Todd." She was wearing snow boots, snow pants, an outrageously puffy parka. Her classic face peered from beneath a fringe of fake fur. "What do you think?"

"It's nice. Kind of warm for that?"

"It's something you see in movies where the girl has a scene where she tries stuff on. Who knew it would be fun? I should have stolen some makeup."

You don't need it, I almost said, but remembered that's a thing women don't want to hear. Complex Human social rules. "Do you have stuff you can actually wear?"

"Weather-appropriate things, sure. Also a wetsuit and surf fins. This body has some basic human info about social norms and fastening clothing, hygiene and stuff. So that's good. Speaking of which, you should bathe. You stink almost as bad as Todd. Todd, you really stink."

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"You really stink," he said.

"Sick burn. I'm going to see if I know how to swim." She rummaged in her shopping cart of stolen goods, produced the fins and wetsuit. She went to change.

We both watched her go. "I need to know where your Dr. Michelle is, Todd."

He went into expressionless bird-of-prey mode. It was a relief after the complaints. "I don't know. You and your unclean, I think you destroyed our camp."

"If we didn't, I can always go back and finish up. I need to know where she is. This isn't what she needs to be doing."

He didn't say anything.

"It's likely that you really don't know, I get it. You know what I think? You're the dalmatian, Michelle's the fire engine."

He looked offended. "I'm the fire engine. People listen to me."

"Tell me why I should help you. Give me the founding philosophy. Convince me."

"What's the point? I know where you stand. You're against your own kind."

"No I'm not. I'm against you and yours. Oh look, up there." Because Lux was above us in that quartz window, wearing a pink wetsuit that ended at her knees and elbows. She had all the grace of a seal in her surf fins. "Looks like she knows how to swim."

He swallowed, watching her.

Well, well.

"If you like her so much, why did you want to see her hurt, Todd?"

He sighed miserably. "She wouldn't have…it wouldn't have been bad."

"Oh heavens no.. What was on the menu for her? What did your audience want to see? A brand new person, innocent but also physically mature. What kind of ugly-ass Human bullshit did you plan on doing?"

He didn't answer. He looked away, facing the stone wall. Then snuck another peek up there at Lux.

I kept picking at him. "You chose that body for her, that's what I think."

He flushed. Bingo.

"Would you have stripped her naked, degraded her, hurt her in cosmetic ways in front of your audience of Humans Only, and gloated as I got sad over it? What was the plan here? Or was it not up to you?"

He met my eyes, looked away.

I kept at him. "Do you have any idea how pathetic that is? Do you people miss the era of live … what, executions so much? What is this? Do you know how dumb you–"

"All right!" He put his face in his hands. "Michelle said…she said that psychologically speaking–"

"I know what she said. I got the same speech. The difference between you and me is that I didn't put up with it."

"You sure didn't," He said bitterly. "Do you know if anyone died? Those people were my friends–"

"Your friends suck, Todd. You know what? I'm going to find your friends, your bosses. I'm gonna clean this up. And I'll do it mean. Maybe I'll make you watch in front of a grateful online crowd, what about that?"

He looked alarmed. He seemed shorter to me. Smaller. Or maybe my arms looked longer. His face looked very punchable. Squeezable neck on this guy. Like a tube of Gogurt. Did Gogurt still exist? Squeeze him like a tube of delicious Gogurt…

"You're doing it again," He said. His voice had bright shards of panic. "You…I'm not trying to get into an argument with you…please just calm down, okay?"

Deep breaths. If this this is what having a soul meant, then self-control was key. I didn't want to go on a rampage. Not with this guy. Not with one guy and no buildings to wreck. I opened my eyes. He and I were the same height again.

"I'm not arguing," he said carefully. "What we did was…it was bad and it was against a Human person. But she didn't start out that way–"

"Todd. This is why I need to get her out of that body. You and yours are bad news, you know that? Lux was an AI, now she's a Human person. But it only matters that she was uncleeeeean, right?"

"Okay sorry. A Human person. We were going to do that to… a Human person. Michelle said it was vital for the greater Human well-being. That the Human race had done nothing but suffer."

"Seems to be doing better than ever to me."

"Not…to some of us. Some of us lost everything." He couldn't look me in the eye, to his credit.

here

I looked at him. "Where?"

Todd was talking. It hadn't been him who'd whispered here at me. "I lost everything. My parents had all of it. Had everything. We were going first to the new world. Third batch, part of the VIP crew."

here

"Todd do you hear that? Someone's saying–"

"Heads up," Lux said, charging in through the narrow cave entrance. "Aircraft of some kind."

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