Triptych

Chapter 16

Fun fact: Neural Lace is an actual thing currently being developed under Elon Musk (the guy behind Tesla). It will allow human brains to connect to an online cloud.

Also, finally... meet Lana. 

Mac

Mac bites her nails obsessively. She's vaguely aware that she should stop the bad habit, didn't she lose it years ago? There might be something in the continuous chatter on the police channels, maybe Lana's signal came back online after an hour of silence. Orion may be trying to reach her while's she's lost in her thoughts. She should get off this chair. Stand up from this chair and do something, search harder.

Mac's fingers are still in her mouth when Orion bursts through the doors, Lana's motionless body draped in her arms. Mac jumps up so fast she topples the chair, meeting Orion before he's taken more than a few steps in the room. Question after question spills from her lips, half the words lost in her panic but Orion seems to understand anyway.

"She had a panic attack I think, after I got her out. I had to knock her out." He looks only slightly better off than Lana, his face blackened with soot and black uniform singed at the edges. He runs a frazzled hand through his hair, then scowls when it leaves an ashy imprint on his forehead. "I got there just as the building went down, I don't think I would've even seen her without the heat scanner." He laments, staring down at her.

Mac sighs, releasing a breath she's been holding in for a while. "I'm just glad you two are alive. When her signal went down I thought the worst." She runs a hand through Lana's hair softly.

"Yeah, about that." Orion moves away from the bed, looking at the monitors that have been eerily empty for quite some time. "The whole neural web is down. Has been since that doctor escaped."

Mac blanches. "That's impossible. Why would he take the web down? That's like his biggest asset right now."

"He didn't take it down." A small voice says from behind them. "I did."

Lana sits up slowly, staring down at her lap as if she doesn't recognize her own body. "I placed a bug in the files he was trying to escape with, figured it'll contain the key to his neural web. It was supposed to eat away at the network when he turned it online." Lana's voice is scarily monotone, talking to her lap instead of meeting their eyes.

"That's my girl." Mac says appreciatively. "Lana you did what I've been trying to do that for years now." She raises a hand for high five, trying to cheer Lana up. She doesn't even look at her. "So if the web is down, how are all the parts still working?" She asks again, half to keep Lana talking at least, half genuinely curious.

"There's a subroutine built into them just in case. It's only activated on the off chance that the web is down but, everyone's probably feeling pretty heavy right now." Lana explains in the same dull voice. "Do you know where my dad went?" She asks then.

Mac and Orion are quiet long enough that Lana looks up, her wide eyes switching between them. "I can probably reach him on private coms." Orion blurts out after a pause. "Why don't you- you should go freshen up before you talk to him."

"No" Lana says thoughtfully. "No I just, just tell him I'm okay for now. He worries otherwise" She gets up from the bed shakily. Mac's hands slightly holding on to her. Mac looks back at Orion in worry before leading Lana to the main apartment. "Can I stay here for a while?" Lana asks hesitantly, and Mac's answer is instantaneous.

The days pass slowly. Lana watches the channel news obsessively, when she's not hooked to a dozen machines to check her brain activity. The city is in disarray, as expected. Quite a few people are opting for minimal prosthetics instead of joining the upgrades race. Dr Stein seems to be thriving in public eye as he gives multiple press readings, assuring everyone that they're not being monitored or at risk of being hacked anymore. Lana leaves the room every time he's mentioned. The disconnect from the web seems to have stopped the brain depletion for now, but Lana's mood doesn't change. Mac tries to take her to the surface city once or twice, and it works for as long as they're down there. Lana bounces between eerily quiet and recklessly loud and Mac struggles to decide which phase is worse. They try to get her to talk to her father, who remains persistent and worried but Mac sides with Lana when Orion tries to push her. Lana is depressed and volatile and against all reason, Mac thinks she's the best person to help her. She patiently holds her when she lies still in bed for hours, so quiet the only sign of life is the slight vibrations of her chest as Mac holds her close. It's only slightly better than the mood swings, when everything seems to get on Lana's nerves and she's is angry at the whole world for letting her exist. It all comes to head one night when Mac is out at a party, she comes back to a trashed apartment and Lana curled up in a corner. Her first instinct is to run to the other girl, who looks unbearably small as she rocks back and forth with her arms wrapped around her body. Orion holds her back though, assures her he's already talked to her with a stern face.

The next day, Mac wakes up to an empty apartment. She panics at first, sends Lana a dozen messages; half angry half worried. She's just yelling at Orion for making Lana leave without warning when she returns, arms full of files, books and – art supplies. She stares at them for a moment, avoids Orion's eyes and mutters "I talked to my dad. I'd still like to stay here for a while though."

"Of course you can" Mac assures her, frowning at Orion before she follows Lana to the guest room she's been staying in. Lana dumps her things on the bed. Mac spots several science books and lecture notes before studying Lana's face. She looks alert enough, so Mac decides to ask. "What's all this?"

Lana jumps, as if just realizing she was followed. "Oh. I figured I'll start painting again." She replies nervously, looking down at the pile on the bed. For the millionth time, Mac's heart breaks at how broken she looks, nervous and so removed from the girl she met all those months ago. Completely out of her element.

"You know you can get an aisle with actual blank paper right?" She asks instead.

"No, I- I wanted to use these." Lana says, meeting her eyes. "I talked to my dad." She adds as an explanation. And Mac supposes it is.

And so, Lana starts painting. She is pretty decent at it, even though she makes a point of not using any measurement and doing it all free hand. Her art ranges from dark to abstract, all of it hauntingly beautiful in its mystery. She uses the pages from thick engineering books she probably memorized to death, covering the black and white text with a burst of colors until its unrecognizable. Mac finds herself questioning her father's decisions sometimes, only to paddle back when they're eating and Lana casually mentions she solved feedback Mac's been struggling with for weeks because she was bored.

Its easy to forget how smart Lana is when she's painting a beard on Orion's face while he sleeps on the couch. It's funnier because Mac knows that Orion is letting it happen because Lana giggles the whole time and its endearing. A welcome change from her usual silence.

Lana's father calls often, asking after his daughter's health and plans to return home. He's obviously worried and Orion seems to empathize more than Mac, even though logically, she gets it. Wanting the best for your child is different than taking away their choice to do what they love, it's a blurry line that's lost in the shine of promised glory. The man admits that only now when the damage is done, and Mac is adamant that Lana needs time. Time to figure out who she is without a dozen voices whispering around her. Mac hopes she finds it soon, Lana is scary when she's quiet.