CODES

F O R T Y - T H R E E

Matthews and I moved out of the way as Zara pushed off the door. She came toward us, walked between us, then approached Polk. She moved slowly but he waited. With his hands balled into fists at his sides, he watched.

For a moment, looking at him, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes. A light that wasn't there before; something I'd never seen. Granted, when I first met him, he wasn't in control—Zara was. But even after, these past few months, only saw darkness in the digital blue; an evil that snuck its way into my nightmares.

But now? As Zara stopped in front of him and looked into his eyes, his expression softened and that light intensified.

His shoulders were hunched. "I did everything I could to bring you home to me," he whispered, dipping his head to one side. "I searched, I waited, I—"

Zara placed her hand on Polk's chest. She stepped close. My instinct was to step, too. I knew it was Zara's mind in there, but that was Clara's body. And as Polk lifted a hand to stroke her cheek, I huffed and moved to walk over to them.

Matthews snatched my arm. "Wait," he hissed.

I clenched my jaw as I looked at him. "That's still Clara..."

"Look." Matthews pointed at the two. Polk and Zara were close, Zara lifted her hands to touch his face; the look of longing was in his eyes, and I knew it had to be in hers.

"I know I did everything wrong." Polk cupped her face, too. "If I can go back in time and fix everything—"

"Hank, please restore the Codes original programming and call off the attacks. The Provincial cyborgs will listen to you," she said, brushing her thumbs over his cheeks.

She couldn't hear him. She saw him and felt what he was trying to say. My chest tightened. I remembered how Clara would hear me without trying to; she knew what I said without direct words. It was in our body language, in our breaths; it was love.

Despite everything he'd done, Zara loved Polk.

"When I first became aware after my death, I saw what the Coded citizens had wanted to do. But living in the Void, experiencing their pain and their hearts," Zara looked back at me with a weak smile, "I know these crimes aren't what they want. They want a natural acceptance." She looked back at him. "They want to be free to live."

Polk slowly dropped his hands.

"Fix this, Hank," she whispered. "If you love me, you'll fix this."

Polk nodded once, then rushed past her. Past us. I felt a pulse of electricity emitting from him and turned, watching him march back into the side door of the statue. I saw him sharply turn when inside. I knew I had to follow him.

"Come on," I said to Matthews, then moved back to grab Zara's hand. The three of us rushed back into the statue, following the sound of Polk's steps. At first, the sound came from the left, but Matthews looked right; the two of us ended up following Zara as she headed for the door leading to the hall.

She went right, up the stairs we'd traveled through when we first came down. Yet, instead of continuing in the same direction we entered originally, she stopped at a slender part of the wall, revealing a door with a wave of her hand. I hung back.

What had the Province done to this statue?

"Shit, what's in here? You think she'd go back to where that other machine is." Matthews came close to my side. "Do you think—"

As Zara disappeared through the partway, I scanned the floors. The amount of electricity pulsing through the statue was ridiculous. And oddly familiar.

The waves of energy felt like home...