Chapter 28


    Estradas first, somewhat unhelpful rmendation, was to quietly assassinate either Rousseau or Voltaire. After some back and forth, she conceded it was probably safer to kill both. When we moved on from the idea of murdering philosophers, the conversation became much more useful.


    But it had the overall effect of highlighting to me exactly how difficult my position was. Other than Daphne andI assumedher father, I didnt know any of the major yers or factions. They would be forming soon, if they hadnt already. And to pull this off, I would need to know all of them, better than I knew myself.


    And that meant I needed all the help I could get.


    I stepped inside the apartment. Ellison was quietly snoring, sprawled out on the couch. Iris sat at the edge of the couch next to his feet, quietly doodling in her notebook.


    I thumped twice on the wall. They both stirred and looked over.


    Iris looked up and gave me a little wave.


    Youre just going to walk in all casual-like, as if the worlds not falling apart again? Ellison asked.


    Its the second time in a week, figured youd be used to it. Anything in the dumpsters?


    No. All the bottles were bone dry.


    Okay, dont worry about it. Family meeting in fifteen minutes. I signed the words Family Meeting in case Iris had missed the lipread.


    She signed back in excitement, <em>Are we working on something together again? Is it something to do with the screens? </em>


    Ellison rubbed thest of the sleep out of his eye. Dont get too excited. It always getsplicated if Matts calling the shots.


    Everyones a critic, I said. I rifled my inventory until I found a gallon jug of water and pulled it out.


    Were not gonna talk about how you literally just pulled drinking water out of your ass? Ellison said.


    Later.


    Hes being all cagey again, I heard Ellison convey to Iris. Then, Wait, where are you even going?


    Dealing with mom, I said.


    /////


    Mom wasnt doing great. The shaking was mainly in her arms and shoulders, though it seemed difficult for her to sit still. It was possible the level of enthusiasm she was disying was disguising how bad it really was.


    As you know, Mom continued, the intes been unreliable.


    Putting it mildly, I said.


    And we need it for almost everything. So, I was searching for alternatives. Anything that the local government might have thrown up to keep vital services online. Anything that we might be able to piggyback off of.


    And?


    I found something thoroughly different. Its local, but stupidly advanced. She pointed to the screen with a single, trembling finger. I bent down, trying to get a look at the multi-colored text. It was almost entirely greek to me. Except for one, single word embedded deep in the code.


    <em>uros</em>


    I think youre on the right track. I said.


    Mom stilled, then typed something iprehensible into the boxes. Its too fast to be anything normal. As far as I can tell, its designed as a recement for the inte. And it looks as if its still updating. There are several features that havent been implemented yet. Some I cant parse at all. But others are fairly obvious, some sort of overall ranking. something for text and voicemunication


    Themunication alternative stuck out to me. I remembered what the Allfather of Chaos had said about the transposition. Whatever it was, whoever was driving this, the goal wasnt total destruction. It was a change of some kind.


    How do we use it? I asked.


    I dont know, Mom admitted, then picked up speed again. I couldnt force implement any of it. Theres a wholeyer of this thatspletely untouchable, but another section that looks like its designed for hosting. So I started working. The codingnguage is again, she ascended into the higher level of IT that I could only nkly nod at.


    I waited until after an overly obtuse description to chime back in. So what exactly does that mean for us?


    She balled her shaking hands into fists, and held them up to her face. It means I got it running!


    Holy shit. I couldnt believe the level of progress shed made. Id expected her to take a look, poke around at the very most, then talk about how it was too difficult.


    Only one problem.


    <em>Ah. There it is.</em>


    She pulled up a string of numbers that looked suspiciously like an IP. This is the address. But I cant ess it.


    <em>Hold on.</em> I pulled up my system screen and sorted through the tabs. There were several that were non-functional, but only one that was non-functional and opened a nk window. There was no way to input text, but maybe


    The numbers appeared as I thought of them into the screen itself.


    Do you have a little, circr ouroboros on your system screen? I asked.


    Mom looked at theputer, then stared back at me in confusion.


    The one in your head. I prompted.


    Oh! Let me look. To be honest, Ive kinda been ignoring it. Thought I was hallucinating until Ellison asked me about it.


    I waited for her to catch up, then, one mentalmandter, and the mock-up site appeared directly in front of my face. Mom stood up in shock, likely seeing the same thing. I high-fived her.


    Youre an actual genius, I smiled. She grinned back. Then her smile ebbed.


    Matthias, I


    I sighed,ing back to the reality of it. Yeah, I know, you dumped everything.


    How


    Ellison told me.


    I just think it''s the best way


    Its not. I grabbed both the gallon of water and the small ss cup and ced them on the table in front of her. Then I pulled one of the bottles of gin from my inventory. Her eyes went to it immediately, though she wrinkled her nose.


    I rolled my eyes, and poured half a ss. Yes, I know how you feel about gin. No, I dont care. This isnt for your personal enjoyment. If you want to change, it starts here. A queer feeling settled in my stomach as I handed it to her. It felt wrong. The dark part of me wondered if maybe, if she went through withdrawal the way she wanted and survived, the memory of the difort would be enough to drive her from it.


    But Id never liked that part of me, much.


    Mom sipped, then gulped. Her eyes grew ssy, more rxed, and the shaking in her arms slowed. Taperings never worked before.


    It was a subtle request for encouragement. She knew better than to ask for it. I knew how this would end. Yet, I found myself speaking anyway.


    Well, maybe youve never been properly motivated. It was hard to keep the words from sounding bitter. I looked down. The light around her ankle monitor had turned red, indicating a lost connection. I fished around in a nearby drawer, drawing out a pair of scissors. Our world is about to change in a big way. Everythings getting reset. You can be whoever the hell you want to be. Youre always talking about how youve never had a chance, since the hearing. Since Dad. And that, if you were given that opportunity, you would change. Well, this is it. I have a line on something, andno way around itIt would be easier with your help. I leaned against her desk, folding my arms. So, you have two options. Either I give you the rest of the bottles now, and you go on a return bender for the rest of the apocalypse


    Mom was already shaking her head.


    Or we do this right. Tapering. Then meds to deal with the cravings. And you help me, Iris, and Ellison make sure that however this thing shakes out, we allnd somewhere better than here. I hesitated, then held the scissors out to her, keeping my face neutral.


    <em>This is thest time.</em>


    Mom reached out with a shaky hand. She took the scissors from me and snipped through the stic strap of the ankle monitor. It ttered to the floor.


    /////


    Alright kids, nning time. I maneuvered the rolling base slowly, careful not to scrape against the wall. The nearbymunity center where we held family meetings was decrepit enough as it was. It was usually closed thiste at night, but Ellison had picked the lock, letting us in.


    Id barely gotten into the room before I heard Ellison groan. Oh god, hes got the whiteboard. Iris punched him, and he grumbled at her incessantly. Then I saw them both fall silent as Mom entered behind me, carrying theptop under her arm.


    Is she uh helping? Ellison asked.


    <em>Be nice,</em> Iris signed.


    Were going to need some extra hands on this one, yes. I drew the words OPEN FORUM, at the top of the board.


    Then everyone but me jumped as a blue door appeared in the wall.