With all the fuel I had in my reserve to power my speed mod, I had to taper back to stay with Boyband. It had been months since I had been so well fed.


    We left three corpses with their teeth, even after taking two full sets for Boyband to try if we grew desperate later. Just because I could only eat fresh teeth did not mean he was programmed the same way.


    “You good?” I checked over my shoulder.


    “Trying. Do you see anything?”


    “Not yet.”


    “Are you sure we should keep running? What if we go past her?”


    “Unless she had implants, she couldn’t have made it too far. Keep looking. We’ll turn back and go another way if we need to.”


    I had to watch my feet to make sure I didn’t trip over any jelly fiends. The few glowbones that chased us gave up after a few seconds of pursuit.


    What else had the elites tossed in this light-forsaken wasteland? We passed by the occasional body part that was not flattened by bone deprivation, but I figured it was much more likely that they had been pieces of shacs rather than human remnants. After seeing the lengths people like Deleon would go to in order to achieve their goals, it wouldn’t surprise me to see actual corpses rather than the ones we had left.


    “Naoma!” Boyband shouted.


    I glared back at him. “You’re just going to frighten her further away from us.”


    “Can’t be worse than what we see here. How long have we been running? We would have passed her by now.”


    “Twenty minutes maybe? You’re probably right.” I slowed and roasted my hands on the back of my head with my arms spread wide.


    “What should we be looking for?”


    “Violet light? I don’t know.”


    “Should we go back and try another street? How big do you think this city is?”


    “No idea. Any luck with your neurospace connection?


    He shook his head.


    I wanted Ralia more than ever. She would be able to crack through the neuroblock and find Naoma. She would–no. She was brilliant, but I was not incapable of everything she could do. I had to think like her. Without a charge, the neurospace would shut down, leaving me as simple as a techless human. Our neurospaces lacked the connection for most of their online functions, but the bare system still had its basic programs.


    Please, Naoma. Please show me that you have left your light on.


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    “What are you thinking about?”


    “Huh?” I turned to him.


    “You’re quiet and staring. Did you figure something out?”


    “What is your neurospace charge at?”


    “Sixty-five percent. Why?”


    “Mine’s at twenty-three. We’ll have to rely on mine.”


    “What?”


    “I need to burn through the charge so it will search for a light source to charge it. All the red here wouldn’t even give it half a percent. Violet, though, that could give it a good charge. If Naoma is still burning her cosmetic light, I think I can locate her.”


    “Why would she still use it? Any glowbones would go right after her.”


    “Yeah, but she doesn’t have the evolved night sight that our Bites give us. It''s a risk, but I bet she is still using it to see her surroundings. Even with the red, you’re pretty much blind out here.”


    “You’re zegging lucky. It might work.”


    I nodded and turned on every signal-searching program alongside every mind-capture camera and recording tool I had in my system. I lost a percent after five minutes.


    Ten more minutes passed. I received a notification.


    Warning: system entering low-power mode. Certain functions may be restricted. Please insert charge soon. Would you like to search for light?


    Please select: Yes or no.


    I tapped yes.


    Searching.


    Searching.


    Searching.


    Low light sources detected nearby. Red light will not produce a sufficient charge. Expand search for higher light?


    Please select: Yes or no.


    Yes.


    Searching.


    Searching.


    Searching.


    Violet light source detected. Small source - inserted charge would increase current charge by eighty percent.


    Small source, my ass. Zeg, if a strip of light from her jacket or from her light paint could complete a system charge, how different was the technology in their district that ran solely on violet?


    Would you like this source added to your personal map?


    Yes! Yes! Yes! Just do it already!


    Please select: Yes or no.


    Yes.


    Please wait.


    If we survived this, maybe I could use saving Naoma as a way of coaxing her into buying me an upgraded system. It grew slower by the day. Such an expense for her would be petty lumens.


    Coordinates added.


    “Got it.”


    “Send it over!”


    “Sorry, I can’t even do that. We’re lucky they didn’t block this.”


    “She better help us remove the blocks then if we are going to waste so much time saving her.”


    I doubt she’ll see it as that. Maybe she had encountered enough glowbones by now to know that running into the center of the red wasn’t the wisest decision. Light above, please let her still be alive. Even if she was a poor resource, she still had to have a working neurosystem. That much would be enough. I held this belief, knowing that if it proved false, we would have no other solution.


    I waved for him to follow and ran back to where we had come.


    “Hey!” he shouted. “Slow down or I’m going to have to eat her teeth!”


    The kid’s appetite had almost doomed us before. If he couldn’t graduate from his infantile need to feed every minute, he would be more of an obstacle than an asset.