Planet Omega

Chapter 25

PART II: EMMA

 "Cal. Cal!" I call out, rushing to catch up with her. I take her by the hand and pull her back. "Cal, please listen to me!"

Her dark brown eyes darken further when they meet my gaze, and she rips her hand from my grasp. "Did you know?" she demands.

There's so much to say, so much to tell. So many invisibly drawn lines that were so well controlled as to avoid ever intersecting. So many overlaps and resets and periods of time that feel like dreams, and some that feel too real.

"It's more complicated than-"

"It's a fucking simple question, Emma," Cal says angrily. "Did you know this entire time that you hunted down Lineya?"

I see the tremble in her stance, in her arms, hear it in her voice. She's barely holding it together, and nothing I say will help.

"No," I say firmly. "I didn't know about Lineya."

Her furrowed brows twitch, and the slight relief appears in her features. But there's more to it, there's much more to reconcile with than just a portion of my life being spent hunting mages. "Did you know about the other mages?" she asks.

I knew the question would come, but I still hesitate to answer it. Depending on my answer, some things will change. What I tell her now will determine the way she looks at me for a very long time. I don't think I could bear Cal looking at me with those eyes.

But EMMA model pawns don't lie. We don't lie, and so we've gotten awfully good at learning how to twist words around and omit important truths. I can never outright tell a lie, but I can conveniently avoid the usage of certain words.

I've never lied to Cal about anything. But I haven't told her everything I know.

So the pawn orgs made that choice for me.

"Not by name, specifically, but I knew what the empire had used me for," I admit. It's my greatest shame, and now my steepest downfall. "They used all memory keepers."

My mind consists of staircases and corridors, hidden rooms and open spaces. The twists and turns are endless. One door may open one room, but it may also open three. Everything connects, but it never intersects.

"And you never once," Cal begins, the hurt seeping from her voice, "thought that there was a chance you might be the one who hunted down Lineya? Of all of those mages, that maybe her name was on that list, too?"

My heart breaks upon seeing Cal do her very best to keep those tears at bay, to remain as neutral as she possibly can. She has to, to avoid hurting me the way that I hurt her. I wish I could...reach out.

"You didn't think any of this information might be something I should know?" she presses on. "That EMMA model pawns were the best resource for the empire? Why didn't you tell me?" And then her voice breaks, and I can't take it anymore.

"Because of the way you're looking at me now." The tears I've been holding back fall down my cheeks. I take a step towards Cal. "Cal, I swear, I didn't know about Lineya. Many memories from before my last reprogramming are missing. They planned this. The orgs planned all of this from the start, can't you see?"

While Cal doesn't back away, she isn't looking at me with the warmth from the past few weeks. She sees my betrayal. "Even if that is the case, you chose not to tell me. I trusted you with...well, all of it. Everything I know, everything from my past." Cal shakes her head. "I know I'm far from perfect. I have my problems and issues. I'm just...I need some time alone to separate who you are now, from who you were when you hunted Lineya."