nothing.
âWhere are your other drives?â Leap asks. âI can come over with my One or my Three.â
âNo,â Chance says. âIâve got a drive sleeping. Iâll set my One down in a few more minutes. Heâs just crying right now. My Four is near the restaurant, where it happened.â
âIn New Denver?â Leap asks.
âYes,â Chance says.
âDoes it have something to do with this join named Rope losing two drives?â
Chance knows that at least one of Leapâs other drives has begun scanning Civ News.
âBoth of those drives that died werenât Ropeâs,â Chance says. âI mean, I guess I donât even know if either one of them were Ropeâs. One of them was my Three.â
âBut Civ News says theyâre Ropeâs.â Leap Twoâs voice makes it clear that Leap is trying to understand. Why would Civ News be inaccurate? âIs that why you flipped the privacy switch?â
âYes,â Chance says. âI needed to tell you. I might need your help, and I donât want a record of this.â
Most employees consider the switch a quaint anachronism. If joins want a private conversation, they just connect using other drives. Chance has never used the switch before but appreciates that its continued existence acknowledges the value of a face-to-face conversation with a specific body.
âYou can bring a drive to my place, so we can talk,â Leap says. Then, âAfter what happened earlier this morning . . . with you . . . theyâll want a little detail on why we turned on the switch.â
âI know,â agrees Chance.
âOkay. You want captain back?â Leap asks.
Chance experiences a momentary lightness, a swell of gratitude toward Leap. âNo, I donât. You fly. But thank you.â
âOkay,â says Leap.
Chance turns off the privacy switch. They fly for a while, neither of them talking. Chance doesnât help and doesnât pay attention to what Leap is doing. When theyâre about an hour from landing, Leap turns on the privacy switch again.
She says, âIâm trying to get my head around this. Youâre saying this Rope character, someone I donât know, and that youâve never talked about, killed your drive. Who is this? How do you know this person? Why would this Rope want to hurt you? I just . . . I donât get it, Chance. Whatâs going on?â
Chance has been trying to make sense of what happened but is still numb. Leap watches her but doesnât speak. Itâs clear that neither of them has anything more to say, so Leap switches off privacy again.
Leap swipes open a comm channel. She reports the authorization changes so far and justifies them by describing Chance as physically ill. Thereâll be an inquiry, but itâs one of the few reasons that may not carry a penalty. The death of a drive is reason enough for a join to step out of a command role.
Then Leap says, âAutonomy, primary flight assistance required. Leap will continue as copilot. Please confirm.â
Autonomy responds, âConfirmed. Primary flight assistance engaged. Autonomy will pilot flight number B-Two-Ten-CC. Leap is now copilot.â
Leap closes the comm channel, switches privacy back on, then turns to Chance.
Chance knows what Leap wants. She says, âOkay. Iâm gonna tell you what happened, but, please, donât do research as I talk. Rope is . . . informed. Iâm afraid Rope will know you and I are friends and may be watching you as well.â
Chance gives Leap a quick summary of the meetings with Rope.
This time, they find each other on the Uyuni salt flat, the group Chance thinks of as Team Teenager. Theyâve met before, when all of Chanceâs drives are sleeping at the same time. Itâs a dry day. A little chilly.
There are five of themâAshton, Renee, Jake, Shami-8, and Javierâeach of the individuals who
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