Nomad Page 17

  "No wonder I lost against her," Logan said.

  "You were expected to win, actually," Raven said, pausing the hologram. "But she was right. Just six megacorps controlled most of the economy--finance, utilities, media, lots of times with special grants of monopoly or exclusivity by the state...it's not important. What's important is that you were their pick, you had the big money behind you, the powerful interests. She was a dark horse candidate everybody ignored at first, but she had a history of reform that brought her popular support. She rode the grassroots-and-social-media thing all the way to the White House.

  "Then the heads of the megacorps decided that she was such a threat, they couldn't wait a few years and gamble on the next election. They decided they couldn't trust the American voter, either, so maybe it was time to overhaul the system into something that worked more efficiently for them."

  "Overhaul what system?" Logan asked. He looked incredulous, but she clearly had his attention. Raven hoped her new approach would work.

  "The United States government," Raven said. "They wanted to overthrow the President, and you would be the key person in their coup. Millions of Americans already believed you should be President, anyway. Your security company already had physical control of federal buildings, embassies, even the White House. The Providence Presidential Guard had replaced the Secret Service, in yet another lucrative contract for your company."

  "Wow. My dad would be happy to hear that." He gave a confused smile, shaking his head. "This is all crazy."

  "We're not to the crazy part yet," Raven said. She changed the hologram, and now they stood on the White House front lawn in the year 2049. A mob of rioters swept past them, swarming the executive residence and both wings of the mansion. Fires burned inside the windows. The footage looked grainy to Raven, clearly taken with a cheap handheld device, but Logan seemed fully impressed by the holograms.

  "Whoa, what's happening here?" Logan asked. "That's the White House?"

  "This is the riot that made you king," Raven said. "After you agree to lead the coup, the megacorps collectively laid off a few hundred thousand workers at once, blaming the new policies of the Vasquez administration for the layoffs. Providence Security created a front group called Workers for Justice. You imported a mob of desperate and angry people that flooded Washington to protest the President. You brought in every group that opposed President Vasquez for any reason--the more radical, the better. You seeded the mob with provocateurs who passed out weapons and helped them turn violent. Your security let this mob into the White House, while protecting the rest of D.C. Under cover of a violent mob, your people killed the President, Vice President, most of the Cabinet, and then..."

  Raven fast-forwarded to the moment when jets of fire erupted from every window of the White House at once. The entire structure collapsed to the ground. Logan jumped back, stumbling over the futon.

  "The mass media--controlled by the megacorporations, you understand--reported that the mob raided and burned the White House," Raven continued. "The Speaker of the House, instead of claiming the office of President for himself, put forward a bill to name you, Logan Carraway, the Secretary-General of the United States, with full control of the executive branch, as an emergency measure until order was restored. The majority of Congress went along with it--all of them were in the pockets of the megacorps, and they did what they were told. At the time of the vote, they were all trapped in the Capitol building by the violent mob outside, protected only by your security agents. That was 2049. You remained in that position for years and years, consolidating your power, turning Providence Security into a national police force...you stomp down the popular resistance to your regime." She changed the holograms to show Providence Security agents beating protesters in the street. "You turn cities into war zones, you round up hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, you kill God knows how many people, you launch wars in Central Asia..."

  She filled the room with video holograms of a warehouse-like prison dormitory with hundreds of filthy cots and desperate people, and she added video of bombed villages and war hospitals from Turkmenistan. Intermingled with these were holograms of Secretary-General Carraway giving angry speeches about the need for more order, more security, more prisons, more war. His voice mixed with the cries of the war wounded.

  "God, make it stop!" Logan covered his eyes. His face had gone a dark crimson color, and he was shaking. "Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?"

  "I wasn't supposed to make contact with you," Raven spoke softly and turned down the volume on the holograms, but she let the video elements continue playing silently behind her. "I was supposed to observe from a distance, collect data, and report back to my own time."

  "Why?"

  "To help us understand human evil," Raven said. "There are other travelers like me, observing Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini..."

  "Come on, don't tell me I get grouped with those guys!" Logan paced the room, looking at the images of the old Secretary-General with the evil green glare. "If you know this about me, how could you like me? Why would you want to get close to me at all? Why wouldn't you just...kill me?"

  "I'm not here to do that," Raven lied quickly, her heartbeat picking up as she heard him guess her original mission. "Just to study you. But...and this is hard to put into words...when I was observing you, I didn't see that old monster at all. I saw a boy my own age, full of potential, maybe a little crazy but a perfectly good person. Whatever events will shape you into that--" Raven pointed at the hologram. "--they haven't happened yet. I thought, if only I could reach out and connect with you, I could strengthen everything that's good in you...I never expected things to go this far. I never expected to have these feelings for you, but now I can't help it, Logan."

  He rubbed his head, looking bewildered. "I should be thinking 'Time travel? She's insane!' but...holograms like this don't exist. Even if they did, you would need a Hollywood budget to film what you just showed me..."

  "There's a lot more I can show you," she said. "This is only a glimpse of the data I've brought from the future."

  "I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel true. It does. I can almost see this happening." He found the dim gray outline of the futon, barely visible among the holograms surrounding him, and he sat down. "This is the scariest thing I've ever seen, Riley. What do I do? If this is already my future, how can I avoid it?"

  "I'm not sure," she said. "But I know you can avoid it, Logan. I can help, and I want to help. I want to be by your side." Raven sat down with him and touched his hand. "I'm here for you, Logan. After the time we've spent together, I don't want to return to where I'm supposed to be. I want to stay here with you, if you still want me with you."

  "You really think I can change all of this?"

  "I believe you can change yourself. You could grow into someone different from what I'm showing you. If I didn't believe it, then I couldn't feel the way I do about you...." She hesitated, then took a risk. "Like I could be falling in love with you."

  He stared at her, letting her hold onto his hand.

  "I wanted to show you, but I couldn't exactly start with 'Hi, I'm a history student from far in the future, and I'm here to study you because you'll be an evil dictator one day.' I mean, where would the conversation go from there?" she asked.

  "It would get a little awkward. It's pretty awkward now."

  "Right. So I had to pretend I belonged here, in your time and your world, so I could reach out to you. And I'm glad I did. My identity was fake, but my feelings for you are real, Logan. They're more real than anything in my life has ever been. Even if you hate me now, and you never want to see me again...I'm glad we had our time together." Raven felt like she was about to cry, and she let it show on her face. She told herself she was only upset that her mission had fallen apart. She could never actually be in love with Logan, but perhaps she'd been faking it for so long that part of her was starting to believe her own lies.

  "I always knew you were different from other
girls," Logan said. "I would never have guessed how different. How far in the future? Are there flying cars where you come from? What's the future like?"

  "Just a few centuries," she lied. "No flying cars. It would take forever to try and describe my world to you. It's your own future you need to understand now."

  "I understand it. I hate it." He stood and walked until he was face to face with a hologram of himself at the age of sixty-nine, a vicious dictator in a black suit. "How do I stop it, Riley? How do I keep myself from turning into this?"

  "There's not one specific thing," she said, but she was thinking of Macey's death in the Caribbean plane crash, pregnant with his child. "It's a lot of things over the years. I can guide you if I'm here, if you still want me in your life." She approached him and stood close. "I still want to be in your life, Logan. I want to be with you more than I've ever wanted anything."

  He studied her for a long moment, then he hugged her close. Raven lay her chest against his chest, her arms wrapped tight around his waist.

  "Do you really love me?" he whispered.

  "I love you," she whispered back.

  "I need you to stay with me." His voice sounded weak, almost defeated. She'd never heard him like that before. "You have to stay. You have to help me."

  "I'm here for you, Logan. For all time, if you need me." She looked up at him, and he gazed back at her--hurt, confused, hopeful, afraid. She couldn't imagine what thoughts and feelings might be spinning through his head at the moment, but he seemed willing to accept her and keep her, and she couldn't help feeling happy about that.

  They slept together in her bed that night, holding each other. Perhaps Logan was tired from traveling, or in shock from seeing his own future, but for the first time ever, he fell asleep before she did.

  She looked at his face, which twisted into deep frowns as he slept, as though his dreams were uneasy. Handsome face, framed by tousled brown hair.

  It could work, she thought. She would still need to establish her false identity more deeply, as she'd planned, but now she could be more open and honest with Logan than she'd ever expected. It could be a secret kept between them. Over time, if his life took a different course and he became a very different sort of person than the evil one she'd known, she might even let herself grow closer to him. She might even let her feelings develop as fully as they could.

  It might not be such a bad life. Even if she had to sacrifice her own happiness, it would be worth it to save so many lives. Rather than killing or dying for the revolution, she would need to live out her life for it.

  Raven had felt disturbed when she'd finished Slaughterhouse-Five, because Billy Pilgrim, traveling back and forth through time, had never been able to change a thing. In that book, events only happened one way, time could not be changed, and the wisest thing to do was simply accept all things as they happened, recognizing that nothing else would have been possible. It had made her feel hopeless about her mission.

  Now, she could see her life unfolding for decades to come, and there was a kind of peace in knowing her future. She would be at his side, doing whatever was necessary to guide him. The course of her life was set, and the road ahead looked, if not fantastic, then certainly tolerable.

  Raven looked at his sleeping face, agitated by some dream. She kissed him softly on the mouth, and he relaxed.

  "We can make it work," she whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The next night, Monday, Logan stayed at his residential hall for a study group, because it was nearly time for final exams, to be followed by winter break. Raven had agreed to go and meet Logan's family for the Christmas holiday, despite the fact that "Uncle Henry" hated her. They would cobble together a story, Logan had told her. They would be co-conspirators, and they would make it work.

  She understood if Logan needed a little space tonight. He had a lot to think about. As long as his feelings for her didn't change, Raven was happy.

  Audra had declared a "girls' night" instead, and now they stood in the kitchen of their tiny apartment, where Audra prepared quinoa for their vegan meal. Raven sauteed mushrooms, carrots, and peppers on their stove.

  "It's too bad you didn't come for Thanksgiving," Audra said. "Uncle Flip's dog, Muddy, stole the entire turkey and dragged it off into the woods. He hunched over it and acted psycho if anyone came near him. It was pretty hilarious."

  "Maybe next time," Raven said. "I'd love to see where you grew up."

  "You could visit for Christmas."

  "I'm going to Logan's."

  Audra choked on the broth she was tasting. "Seriously?"

  "I feel like we're closer than ever," Raven said.

  "Maybe I should give the guy a chance. If he makes you this happy, he can't be totally evil, can he?" Audra smiled. "You're like dancing in your socks over there. Why is there no music playing? We should have music."

  "We definitely should." Raven stirred the mushrooms and watched Audra flip through the beaten and tattered records.

  "I hope you don't mind if I go really old-school here. All my records are pretty old..." Audra held up a torn and faded Grateful Dead record cover decorated with roses and skulls. She placed the vinyl on the turntable, then eased the needle onto the record.

  "Why do you like records so much?" Raven asked.

  "It's analog. It's warm. The sound waves are carved right into it. Digital's too cold for me." Audra shrugged, then nodded her head to the music and began to dance her way back across the living room. "Okay, 'Touch of Grey' might be their most commercial song, but that's no reason I shouldn't love it, right?"

  "You should love what you love," Raven said. She couldn't help smiling as Audra danced.

  A streak of white-hot plasma burned through the center of the front door and across the living room. It seared through Audra's stomach, and she didn't have time to scream before it roasted her alive. All her flesh shriveled into black ash. The plasma beam continued on and struck the narrow breakfast bar, which burst into flames as Raven dropped to the floor.

  "Audra!" Raven cried. She crawled across the worn linoleum and around the bar to reach her friend, but there was nothing Raven could do to help her. Audra was gone--dancing, singing, and full of life at one moment, a charred body the next, her body curled up in a fetal position from the sudden blast of heat. The reek of burned skin and hair filled the apartment. Raven's eyes stung and she felt a terrible sob rising in her chest. Another friend lost to the long war.

  The burning door shattered as the attacker kicked it down. He wore hardened black armor, including a thick black face shield. He swung a heavy plasma rifle in his hands, larger and more powerful than Raven's weapon. It looked as though Providence Security's agents from the future had finally caught up with her.

  He fired again, and Raven flipped aside. The plasma bolt incinerated the kitchen cabinets and pantry, leaving a roaring wall of flame.

  Raven dove into Audra's room, since it was closer and the door was already open. She made it to the bathroom just before a third bolt of plasma struck Audra's bed and rapidly expanded. Fire swept through the girl's room.

  Another bolt tore into the bathroom and swelled, scorching every porcelain surface. Raven leaped into her own room and scrambled on hands and knees to her crawlspace, where she pulled herself inside and turned the dial on her safe.

  For a moment, she had a horrific flicker of memory, in which she crouched in a little crawlspace similar to this one, alone in the dark, weeping but trying not to make a sound. She was a little girl. Raven shoved the memory away.

  Lying flat on her belly in the crawlspace, with her armor-ribbed black jacket pulled over her like a blanket, Raven raised her pistol and took aim as her attacker kicked open her bedroom door.

  She fired a blast of blinding-white plasma at the face shield, typically the weakest spot in a suit of armor. It engulfed her attacker's head, distracting him momentarily but doing no real damage. His armor was much tougher than what the bike riders had worn.

&nbs
p; Raven knew armor hardened against plasma was also dense, heavy, and slow. If she could knock the security agent off his feet, she might gain a brief advantage while he struggled to stand up again.

  She turned her plasma pistol toward the ceiling and released a series of shots, striking the roof of the house with bursting balls of dense, super-hot gas that turned the support structure into ashes.

  The roof came down in a heap of burning timbers. The wall dividing her crawlspace from her bedroom ripped open and ignited, flash-frying the air around her until it was searing hot. If she didn't move, she would get trapped in the fire.

  Raven crawled out to her roofless, fiery wreck of a bedroom and pulled on her jacket as she jumped to her feet. The heavy old roof timbers had landed on the security agent, pinning him onto his back for the moment. His rifle had been knocked out of his reach. He lay stunned, but began struggling as Raven approached.

  "Don't move." Raven aimed her plasma pistol at his faceplate and squatted beside him. She probed her fingers along his neck and found the tiny notch of the helmet control. The armored helmet and faceplate came apart jigsaw-fashion, folding down around the agent's chest and shoulders.

  Raven gaped when she saw the freckled face inside. She looked older, her face harder than Raven remembered, her hair shaved to a stubble against her scalp, but Raven recognized her instantly.

  "Kari?" Raven asked. "Oh my God, you're alive! Kari!" Raven reached for her with both hands, overwhelmed with happiness. She awkwardly tried to hug the girl while avoiding the smoldering roof beam across her black-armored chest.

  "Don't touch me," Kari hissed.

  "What?" Raven drew back. "Why are you trying to kill me, Kari?"

  "Traitors die. That's the rule." Kari grunted as she struggled to push the roof beam off her chest, and Raven resisted the urge to help her.

  "I don't understand, Kari."

  "You made your choice. You want to be his queen. You were supposed to kill him, Raven, not fuck him."

  "It's not what it looks like. I have a plan."