Icarus

Part 11

In the pink makeover room, Lyr stood in front of a full-length mirror, eyes closed. Narida, standing beside her, clapped her hands again.
"Okay honeybun, open your eyes!"
"You better not have put an elephant-load of makeup on me." Lyr grumbled.
Opening her eyes, she couldn't help a small gasp escaping her lips. She looked . . . gorgeous. Narida had washed the Instadye out of her hair, returning it to its natural blue color, and curled it so it framed her face in a soft cloud of ringlets. A few strands of tiny white seed pearls were twined into the curls near her face, matching the larger pearls in her corset-like gold filigree belt and choker. But what really took her breath away was the dress.
It was long enough to just brush the floor, made of myriad layers of flowy, iridescent fabrics that shimmered in every shade of blue and teal when the light hit them and rippled softly around her body at even the slightest breeze. It had no sleeves, so Narida had covered her arm scars in some kind of golden powder that made them almost look like more jewelry. There was a little makeup on her face, mostly eyeliner, but it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as she'd thought it would be.
"How do you feel?" Narida asked.
"Actually? Kinda good. Thanks."
On impulse, Lyr hugged the older girl, making her squeak.
"You're probably the only nice person here. I hope you can stay that way."
"That has to be one of the top ten weirdest compliments I've ever gotten, but thank you."
Just then, somebody knocked on the door. In came a young man in some kind of servant's uniform. He bobbed a nervous bow to Lyr.
"Miss Thaniels, your Grandfather requests your presence for dinner."
Lyr took a deep breath, then did her best imitation of a noblewoman's condescending nod. She'd seen it in enough of the weird cheesy movies that the gang kids liked to watch on the silo's biggest computer. Surprisingly, it worked.
"Very well. Tell him I'll be there momentarily."
At that moment, the plan that had been forming in her mind all through her makeover crystallized. Her Grandfather and the Elites wanted her science-mage talents? Well, she'd use those talents to kill them. If she died too, well, nobody would miss her anyway. And at least she'd have mattered for once, made a difference for once. She had nothing to lose.
Well, she had one thing to lose, Roger and the rest of the gang kids. She'd just have to put her plan into action before she let anything about them slip.
Before she left the room, Narida slipped something small and hard into her hand.
"I found this in your pocket. I thought you might want it back for luck. Fates be with you."
Lyr felt the tiny object as she tucked it into a fold of her dress. Her eyes widened. Could it be? She was pretty sure she'd put this into the coin pocket of her jeans just in case when she'd left the silo last night. Fates, it had really been just last night. So much had changed.
But this was still in her hand, because she'd been smart enough and lucky enough to remember that people searching you never, ever look in the tiny, useless coin pockets of jeans. Tears stung her eyes. This had been Roger's birthday present to her, on the random day last month they'd picked to be her birthday because he'd insisted she needed a birthday. The tiniest, most powerful bomb he'd ever made, disguised as an ordinary bottlecap.
"You need to throw this thing as far as you can, then run to about twice as far away as you think you should." She remembered him telling her. They'd been sitting on the roof of the silo, alone under the stars and the city lights.
"It's crazy powerful. Don't use it without the timer unless you have a literal deathwish, understand?"
He'd leaned in close, like he always did to make a point, and she'd been very tempted to kiss him just to freak him out. She hadn't though. She valued his feelings too much for that.
"Guess I've got a deathwish now, Roger." She whispered.
She walked down through the lavish hallway, following the servant boy, who'd come back to get her while she was lost in thought. They took a glass elevator up several floors. Lyr leaned on the railing, savoring the sight of Port Nerona spread out underneath her, a sprawling jumble of old and new buildings, all the lights just starting to flicker on as the sun set in a blaze of pinky golden glory over Nerona Bay. It almost looked like the sun was dipping down to touch its own reflection at the line where the sea met the horizon. Not a bad night to leave the world on, although the day you died could never really be a good one.
She was jolted from her reverie by the elevator coming to a stop, barely collecting herself in time to step through the doors as they whooshed open. She found herself in some kind of ballroom, where a crowd of opulently dressed people had gathered around a banquet table underneath sparkling crystal chandeliers. The food looked almost as colorful and exotic as the strange flowering trees dotted around the room in large pots. The room was clearly near the top of the tower, since the floor-to-ceiling windows sloped slightly inward as they rose towards the roof. The dance floor was a colorful marble and gemstone mosaic, showing stylized versions of the original Elites, the ones who'd founded Port Nerona's current government. The people at the table all looked up when she came in, including the grizzled bearded man at the head of the table. He looked a little older and a little more openly scheming than when she'd last seen him, but the gray-streaked blue hair, scar on one cheek, and his fedora and snappy suit were unmistakable. Shoving down her unbridled fury, Lyr made a polite curtsy.
"Grandfather. It's been too long."
If he knew she'd gotten her memories back, Reynold Thaniels gave absolutely no sign of it.
"Jorella! Come sit with us, dear, I've been looking forward to seeing you again."
He pulled out a chair for her and introduced her to the other guests, half of which she promptly forgot in the confusion of trying to remember her table manners. After a bit of polite small talk concerning everyone's clothes, trade winds, and the latest gossip scandals, Lyr's Grandfather said a quick feast prayer and they all began eating in earnest.
Lyr, who hadn't eaten anything since the cheap food-cart pastries she'd bought for breakfast that morning, had to fight the urge to use her bare hands and devour half the dishes available. Even so, she was still so focused on her food that when she heard her Grandfather call her name, titters from the other guests indicated that it probably wasn't the first time he'd done so.
"Sorry, Grandfather. This food is distractingly good. What were you saying?"
"I was saying that we'd been discussing my latest invention. I believe you'd be quite interested in it. It's an entirely new system of Chip, implanted in the brain rather than the hand, that can directly access the wearer's thoughts. You'd be able to control the most advanced technology without lifting a finger, literally. And with any subjective memory available for use as a password, your information would be more secure than ever!"
"You'd also be able to mind control people." The words were out before Lyr could stop them.
Her Grandfather stared at her for a moment, then gave a forced chuckle.
"What an imagination you have, dear granddaughter. Some censorship would be necessary, obviously, to prevent thought crimes and the contagious spread of mental illness. Also to help ensure that what I like to call the Mindnet would run smoothly, to the benefit of all society. But mind control? A mere fantasy."
"Has it been tested yet?"
"On animals, yes. I thought we'd wait for a rather special volunteer before beginning human trials."
It took a few seconds for Lyr to register what he meant by that.
"Wait, you mean . . . me?"
"Well, if anyone has a brilliant enough mind to control an untested piece of technology with pure thought, it's you."
The fake smile was back again, warm, inviting, and almost enough to convince her. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. But trusting Reynold Thaniels had gotten her into this mess in the first place. It sure as hell wouldn't get her out.

Pretending to trust him, however, could prove pretty darn useful at the moment.
Lyr put on her best oh-thank-you-I'm-blushing face.
"I'd love to help further these new discoveries in any way I can. In fact, why wait? May I come view the lab now? It's really been far too long since I helped you with a project."
That seemed to catch him off guard. Then, just for a split second, his eyes narrowed under his bushy brows. He knew she was up to something. However, he couldn't really find a good excuse to say no in public.
"Very well, come along, all of you. I must say, your enthusiasm for scientific progress warms an old man's heart, Jorella."
Much more than his heart would be getting warm soon, Lyr thought with bleak satisfaction as she took her Grandfather's arm and let him escort her to the elevator. This was it, but she was ready.