When the elevator dinged, the lot of them stepped into the narrow hallway, and advanced two abreast. Will walked beside Rhea, following the security robot. She glanced at him, and he gave her a reassuring smile.
So, she had been successful after all. It would have taken a mistake of less than a millimeter on her part, and she would have incinerated part of the mayor’s brain, instead of the chip. That she had known the exact depth and beam width to use, and the precise cranial point to apply the scalpel, told her she had done this before at least a few times in her past life. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. Given some of the memories she had, she doubted she was a neurosurgeon.
Two security robots stood guard in front of the double doors ahead. When the doors opened, the machines stepped aside to let them pass.
Rhea and her companions strode onto the eagle-embroidered carpet as they squeezed into the mayor’s office. The augmented reality overlays gave the impression of a room much bigger than it was, when in reality the party was hemmed into a small space near the entrance by the invisible walls of the real world.
The mayor sat behind the desk, debonair as always in his crisp, black suit. Beside him were two more security robots, hovering protectively upon either flank.
The virtual poster behind him had a new message scrawled upon it today: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”
Rhea instinctively gazed at the virtual floor-to-ceiling window on her right, and the white sand beach beyond; she felt a deep longing inside.
When the mayor cleared his throat, Rhea reluctantly tore her eyes from the beach.
“Thank you.” The mayor folded his hands on his chest. “I’ve been Veil’s tool for three years now. Three years. You set me free from a prison that… trammeled my mind. I was a prisoner in my own body.”
She nodded slowly, then gestured toward the window. “Why haven’t you changed the decor?”
“This is the original decor,” Grandas said. “Veil let me keep it. Probably because it was one of the few things that grounded me. Helped me endure.” The mayor unfolded his hands. “I want to give you a medal for what you’ve done.”
“No thanks,” she told him.
The mayor raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want a medal?”
“No,” she said. “But I would appreciate it if you could get me unbanned from VidTube and the other big streaming sites. SubverseTube has a rather small audience.”
“I wish I could,” the mayor said. “But I don’t have any control over the policies of private companies. You’d have to go a bit higher up than me. I can try to petition them, if you think it would help, but they’ll probably ignore me.” He studied her a moment. “At least let me give you the key to the city.”
She sighed. “I don’t need or want it.”
“All right,” he said. “No key. But I’m still going to instruct the sentries to let you pass through the main gates without question every time. As long as you don’t bring a bunch of rioters with you, anyway.”
“Speaking of rioters, there is something else you can do for me…” Rhea said.
“The water supply?” Grandas asked.
“Good guess,” Rhea replied.
The mayor folded his hands over his suit once more. He squeezed his fingers so tightly together that the knuckles turned white. “It was Veil who made me veto the resolutions to restore the settlement’s water. I will convene an emergency meeting of the councilors when we’re done here, and I’ll rectify that. Water will be restored to Rust Town by this afternoon, if I can help it.”
“Is it true what you said earlier, while under Veil’s influence?” Rhea asked. “That we’ll only have a year’s supply if you share with the slums?”
“Afraid so,” Grandas answered. “We’re uh… in trouble.”
“Maybe the streaming sites should stop shadow-banning everyone who talks about the ocean levels,” Rhea said. “Like I told you earlier. You know, so more people are aware of the problem, and can help.”
“Again, I have no influence over the behavior of these private companies,” the mayor replied. “You have to go higher up in the government for that. And I’m not entirely sure that having more people aware of the problem would actually help. Do you really want people to start stockpiling water, hoarding it from everyone else? Panic will only cause the supply to dry up a whole lot sooner.”
“He does have a point,” Horatio said. “Humans are illogical, greedy creatures. If it becomes known that the worldwide supply of water is on the verge of collapse, people will indeed stockpile.”
“Government workers are already stockpiling supplies for themselves, no doubt,” Rhea said. “Especially those in the upper echelon.” She gazed into the mayor’s eyes. “You’re stocking up on water yourself, aren’t you?”
He lowered his gaze, relaxing his fingers. “Yes.”
“Well, at least you’re honest in private, if not public,” she told him.
“Maybe we should release footage of this encounter,” Miles said. “Show the people of Aradne what a two-faced liar their mayor is.”
“No,” Rhea said. “Assuming the footage wasn’t shadow-banned immediately, the mayor could just say it was a sophisticated deepfake.” She waited until the mayor looked at her once more, and then narrowed her eyes. “I do, however, want you to arrest the other city councilors who took part in planning the bioweapon attack against Rust Town.”
Grandas squeezed his interlocking fingers tighter once more, whitening the knuckles. “While I’m grateful
