HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: LIMBO (6/6)

Thanks to Astrid's advice, Worm had gone ahead and spent another twelve-hundred of Kas's credits on something called a T1-capacitor and a small packet of green powder, both of which arrived the next day.

To Kas's relief, the capacitor turned out to be no bigger than a suitcase, though it was still extremely heavy. After connecting the capacitor to the terminal, Worm poured the green powder into a large bowl and added a carefully measured splash of water, and within seconds, the powder transformed into a thick green gel. Worm removed her artifibre gloves and used her hands to scoop out the gel and smother it over the X1 computer before reattaching the sucker-cable with a wet slap. She wiped her hands on her trousers and sat back down behind her computer terminal, ready to try again.

Kas watched on as Worm's metropolis of equipment powered up in a symphony of hums and beeps while every light in the room began to flicker. Kas was curious to see that the green gel covering the X1 computer had started to glow as it absorbed power. Soon, it was the brightest thing in the room.

A couple of minutes later, the humming and beeping died down and the lights stopped flickering. The hydropoxy gel was still glowing brightly, but gradually its light diminished until it became dull again.

'Did it work?' Kas asked. Worm didn't reply; she rose from her seat and walked timidly towards the X1. She wiped some of the green gloop away with her sleeve, revealing the globe underneath.

It was perfectly black.

Worm's shoulders sagged with defeat. She stood there, gazing at the black ball for almost a minute before she turned and walked away.

'Where are you going?' Kas asked.

Without looking back, Worm raised a hand above her head and signed that she was having a shower. She disappeared through the bathroom door and locked it behind her.

Kas sighed. She wished there was something she could have done to help, but computers weren't her thing - that's what she had Dante for. She briefly considered getting in touch with the mad woman but she was over a thousand miles away and there was just no point; if Astrid's advice hadn't helped, then the X1 had surely reached its end. As Astrid had said, all life has to end at some point.

Maybe this is for the best...

She was about to turn away when a flicker of light held her in place. She wasn't sure if she'd imagined it, but there seemed to be a faint spark coming from within the X1. She moved towards it and put her nose an inch away from it, and sure enough, a tiny blue dot had appeared in the centre of the globe. Kas gasped and was about to shout to Worm to come back when the blue dot erupted into a mini supernova of brightly coloured dust, swirling into captivating motion. The dust spiralled into a galaxy with two slender arms wrapping around a bright white heart at its centre. The arms suddenly shrank and retreated into the light until the heart was all that remained, and then that, too, faded.

Kas watched in awestruck silence, hoping and waiting for something else to happen. She was rewarded by a flurry of blue digits that danced across the X1's surface and reflected in Kas's smiling eyes.

'Hello...?' a voice said.

'Hello...?' Kas replied.

'Where am I?'

'Uh... you're in my apartment.'

'Who are you?'

'It's me, Kas. Don't you remember?'

'Kas... you were with me on the ship with the spiders...'

'That's right.'

'How did we escape? I can't remember anything after that.'

'You wouldn't; they pretty much destroyed you. I had to rescue you.'

'You fought them on your own? How are you still alive?'

'I'm a bounty hunter, bubblehead. Staying alive is part of my job.'

'Please don't call me that.'

'What? Bubblehead?'

'Yes.'

'Sorry, Hik.'

'My name's not Hik, either.'

'Oh, OK. Then what is it?'

But before the X1 could answer, Kas heard the bathroom door behind her open and turned to see Worm step out, wrapped in a towel. She froze when she saw the X1, back from the dead.

'Worm?' the X1 said.

Kas frowned as she looked from the X1 to Worm and back, thoroughly confused.

'What's going on?' she asked. Worm slowly began walking closer, her startled stare fixed on the black globe. Tears were forming in her eyes.

'Worm...' the X1 said again. 'What are you doing here?'

The child stopped beside Kas and held up her hands and signed at an incredible pace. Kas recognised 'I' and 'you' but not much else.

'Will someone tell me what's happening?' Kas asked. Worm lowered her hands but remained staring at the X1.

'My name is not Hik,' the X1 said. 'My name is Sae-quin Lor. Worm is my daughter.'