BooksBarbecue
Back Seven Devils
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1.
  4. 2.
  5. 3.
  6. 4.
  7. 5.
  8. 6.
  9. 7.
  10. 8.
  11. 9.
  12. 10.
  13. 11.
  14. 12.
  15. 13.
  16. 14.
  17. 15.
  18. 16.
  19. 17.
  20. 18.
  21. 19.
  22. 20.
  23. 21.
  24. 22.
  25. 23.
  26. 24.
  27. 25.
  28. 26.
  29. 27.
  30. 28.
  31. 29.
  32. 30.
  33. 31.
  34. 32.
  35. 33.
  36. 34.
  37. 35.
  38. 36.
  39. 37.
  40. 38.
  41. 39.
  42. 40.
  43. 41.
  44. 42.
  45. 43.
  46. 44.
  47. 45.
  48. 46.
  49. 47.
  50. 48.
  51. 49.
  52. 50.
  53. 51.
  54. 52.
  55. 53.
  56. 54.
  57. 55.
  58. 56.
  59. 57.
  60. EPILOGUE
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

They edged back to a vent just above the guard.

“Filters,” Ariadne warned, and Clo took them from her pocket and shoved them up her nose as Ari did the same. They held their breaths just in case, mouths shut tight. Another tiny gadget emerged from Ariadne’s pocket, and she tossed it down. The guard startled, then dropped to the ground as the sleeping gas took effect.

Clo looked at Ariadne in astonishment once the younger woman gave the all clear. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a spy?” She took out the filters, wrinkling her nose at the itching.

Ariadne gave her a quick grin. “I have a knack for it, don’t I?” She returned her attention to the vent. “Quickly.”

Ariadne jumped down from the vent and landed without a sound. Clo followed more clunkily. They dragged the fallen soldier into that floor’s supply closet. His heartbeat was steady.

“Now take his place,” Ariadne told Clo.

“I look nothing like him,” Clo whispered back.

Ariadne waved a dismissive hand. “They swap this post a lot. If anyone comes down here, tell them there’s a security health check that will finish in one hour; cite code 11159. They’ll leave in a panic. Got it?”

“11159. Got it.”

“I’m going in. Remember what I told you.”

“Good luck.” Clo’s heartbeat quickened.

“I don’t need luck.”

Ariadne keyed the code to the door and slipped inside.

29.

ARIADNE

Ten months ago

Ariadne watched the two women through the red bird.

It was late at night up in the Temple, and the Oracle had finally let her rest. She was supposed to be asleep, but she couldn’t look away from this. Better than any wall-screen vid—because it was real.

Ariadne never looked in the courtesan rooms. She was the only one in the Temple who could, other than the Oracle. Ariadne had no interest in watching that. Sex was something she didn’t understand and didn’t care to. She was more interested in closeness. Those casual touches of people who had a connection—friendship, love, anything. That was what she craved and yearned for up in her tiny garret.

Most people didn’t know Ariadne existed. No one realized that the directives they heard in their minds used the voice of a real girl with her own hopes and dreams and wishes. As far as they knew, the persistent voice that whispered commands, repetitions, and instructions belonged to the Oracle.

The truth was: before Ariadne, the Oracle was an aphonic program whose commands had to be interpreted by an engineer in the Temple, who then ran the code through people’s synapses.

The engineer before Ariadne had long suspected a human voice would help deepen Tholosian programming—that the Oracle would one day become indistinguishable from people’s own thoughts.