EDGE OF DAY

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"When I break," Will shouted. "The hover-bike will be forced to go over us. You lock on it and shoot."

The lump in Day's throat seemed more like a tumor. 'Oh God. Oh fuck. Oh shit,' she muttered. She just wanted to shrivel up and play dead. Maybe they should let themselves get arrested and she'd tell the police none of this was her—the shopping mall bombing, the disappearing person at Janus—All she'd done was try to get a personality implant.

Pull it together, a voice inside her said.

"Day, have you got this?" Will shouted. "Are you ready? I'm gonna do it!"

The bike broke so suddenly, Day slammed into Will. The impact winded her.

"Now!"

She tilted her head to the sky and saw the hover-bike curve up fly over them. Her open eye locked on the droid, her finger pressed the red button. An electric charge flooded her hand and the next thing she knew, the droid on the hover-bike froze.

Shocked, she stared at it in amazement. Will pressed hard on the accelerator and they raced forward, while the hover-bike dropped from the sky and crashed on the road where they'd been less than a second ago.

"Nicely done," Will said, pulling over twenty meters from the smoldering wreck of droid and hover-bike. He cut the engine and suddenly all she heard was the distant whir of pods, and the wind blowing through the trees that lined the wide boulevard.

"Down you get," Will said. She could barely lift her leg over the seat; her limbs were weak and her lungs in bad need of oxygen. Will got off and gently removed the gun from her hands. Then he pressed something that disconnected the scope from her eyes. She felt a pinching release.

He slipped the equipment back into his leather jacket pocket and glanced up at the skyscraper entrance. "This is the place," he said.

She leaned over, hands on her thighs. Her breathing was erratic and her body felt hot and sweaty then cold and shivery. Thoughts slipped through her mind like elusive minnows in a fast moving stream. How many laws had she broken in the last two hours? Was this the place where they'd arranged to take out the implant? Wouldn't the police easily find them if they left the bike outside?

Will put his arm around her waist and helped her towards the rotating glass door. Her legs felt like spaghetti, ready to fold and drop her at any moment.

The enormous lobby was the size of a shopping mall but the dark wood floors, water fountain running down the walls, and trees in giant pots, spoke of luxury and exclusiveness. A long escalator travelled up to an open lobby on the second floor. There were three receptions, each manned by a male and female droid. The cool air was oxygen rich and there was a faint smell of soil. It reminded Day of how it was supposed to smell "outdoors", how she remembered it from when she was a kid.

"Just sit here for a sec." Will lowered her onto a cream couch shaped in the crest of a wave.

She grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me."

"I just need to tell my friend that we're here."

"Will," she whispered. She blew up the hair falling into her eyes, realizing she must look a total state and now she was letting him see the panic. Panic when he was a pool of serenity. "Will," she said again, "They wouldn't have sent only one police droid after us... That doesn't make sense."

He squatted down in front of her, taking her hands in his.

"Take a deep breath. Now let it out. Good. And again."

This time her lungs filled with air and she felt instantly better. She let out her breath slowly, taking in the exact blue and green hue of his eyes, the slight break in the bridge of his nose, the lucidity of his lightly tanned skin. That was another way you could distinguish human and droid. Up close the skin of a human had uneven pores. It looked layered. It was imperfect.