vN The First Machine Dynasty(86)

Screaming, Amy charged that aunt and shoved her. Her aunt's arms spun briefly. Her hands clutched for Amy's hair. Balling a fist, Amy punched her solidly in the stomach. Her aunt fell down toward her sisters at the bottom of the trench. Amy watched as they tore her apart: first her skin and hair and then the limbs, the feet snapping off at the ankle and the fingers popping off one by one, but crammed down open gullets in clusters of two or three. They pulled the carcass in half while she screeched and wailed, not in pain or horror but in anger, frustration, hate.



Amy jumped high above the fray. "That's your legacy."



Competition is beautiful. I have no regrets.



She joined Javier at one of the turrets. Gabriel and Léon were already there. Their fingers flew over the control panel, trying to gain access. "Why is your clade here?" Gabriel asked, barely lifting his eyes from his work.



Only urgency kept the shame out of Amy's voice. "Rory double-crossed us. She brought my aunts here, and she's sending us all right into the belly of the squid."



"I hate to say it," Ignacio said as he landed beside them, "but I told you so."



"Put a lid on it, cabrón."



Amy frowned. "Did any of you grab your little brother on your way here?"



The boys looked at each other. Then they looked at their father. Javier's eyes closed. Beneath their feet, the ship leaned perilously starboard. A bright blue container tumbled off its stack, cartwheeling once in the air before stopping, suspended. It hovered in mid-air, and then it rose, and over the wall of containers Amy saw the slimmest ribbon of gleaming obsidian before the container's ends blew open and its walls crunched together like an empty beer can.



"Madre de Dios," Ignacio whispered.

Amy pushed Javier gently in the direction of his sons. "Get to the lifeboats," she said. "I'll bring Junior back there. I promise."



For the first time, Javier noticed the rough scrape in her side. He touched it, and rubbed her smoke between his fingers. His lips firmed and his shoulders squared. "I'm coming with you–"



"No." Amy pulled one of his curls free from his eyes. "You have to get to the boats with the others."



"The containers have shifted position," Gabriel said. "How will you find him in time?"



"What if Amy's clademates got him, already?" Léon asked. "Dad, they'll rip you to pieces if you go back there."



Amy nodded. "He's right. They will." She tried smiling. "I'll be OK. I brought him back to you once; I can do it again."



"Don't bother!" Gabriel tried standing, but the ship tipped again and he had to catch himself. Gripping the turret's control panel, he pointed at the melee of hungry women and falling cargo. "Either of you! It's futile!" He licked his lips. "We have learned everything we can from that iteration. And if we want there to be any others after him, we have to let this one go."



Javier's face fell. He looked down toward the boats. Amy knew they sat just below the turrets, waiting to be winched up and used. Inside her, Portia rasped and writhed. He's dead weight! Leave! Now!



"Dad?"



Javier blinked and straightened. He turned to face Ignacio, who stood with arms folded. The ship pitched and Ignacio briefly rose above his father. He held the rail loosely for balance, as though it were merely a tree swaying in a storm. His eyes flicked over to the collapsing mess at bow and starboard. "Don't leave him, Dad. Please. Get him out of there."



Javier's face creased into a smile. "I can do that." He turned to Amy. "Let's go."



They leapt straight upward. From the air, she saw hordes of women separating them from the area where, she hoped, Junior still waited. They carried steel rebar and rusty chains, and even broken bottles stolen from other containers. Their teeming mass reorganized itself and directed its attention at her – and Javier – as they landed on separate containers. Instantly, some crawled up after her, mouths open, the torn skin of their fingers exposing the black bones beneath. Amy leapt to flee, but one grabbed her ankle and pulled. She fell hard on her back, her vision hazing briefly as it worked to process the sudden shift in light. Then her aunt hove into her field of view, and she saw nothing but teeth before they gnashed down into the soft skin covering her bicep. Ionic fluid spurted free. It didn't hurt, but Amy yelled anyway, right in her aunt's ear, and swung her fist into the side of her aunt's skull as she chewed. Her aunt's tongue continued digging away merrily into the flesh of Amy's arm, and Amy saw the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile.