531
What Matters

Yi couldn’t take his eyes off the fires. No matter what else was running in his head, his eyes were on the orange lights that flickered from below the Skylines. Like hell itself was trying to rise up and swallow them all.

“You warned him to get out. At least you were able to do that,” DaQi tried to comfort him. His lover came up from behind and wrapped his arms around his waist, setting his chin on Yi’s shoulder.

He relaxed back against DaQi. This was the only solace he craved. The only solace he had tonight. What could make any of this okay?

“It’s not about that,” Yi said softly. And DaQi couldn’t know, because all these years he’d believed he was human. Yi didn’t have that.

“What is it about then?”

“I lived there,” he confessed. “Not passing through or as a cover. I lived in the Builds. I loved the Piles, with the dirt and the muck and the neon and the people who defied all that to live happy lives. I was a part of that community. And there are two truths that I can’t escape while I’m watching this. That the people I knew are being hurt because I was there. And that if they had known what I was, it mattered. The Confessor was an isolated data point. An outlier. They would have torn me to shreds if they could. They would have found out and turned me in if they didn’t destroy me where I stood. They went into my office, into my home, and smashed everything. It was all just stuff but…” he stopped because it hurt too much to say it. He needed to though. He needed DaQi to understand.

“I always knew that my secret was dangerous. I knew people were scared by the idea of us. But I somehow thought that who I was would matter more than what I am.”

He felt DaQi’s head bowed down to rest against his neck and he took comfort in the arms that tightened around him.

“I’m so sorry they don’t see how wrong they are.”

He dropped his head and gave himself a few minutes to grieve. It was all the time he had to spend on the people who hated him. Still, he ached for Xian and hoped the old man and his burger shop survived. Which was stupid. The old man was probably with the protesters, demanding his head.

“Yi,” DaQi pulled him around and it wasn’t until then that he realized there were tears on his face. It was the simulation of human tears, but it was as real as bleeding.

And his heart was fucking bleeding out right now.

He let out a sob as he pulled DaQi close. For the first time in seven years, he let it all fall away and gave free rein to his emotions with the one person who could protect him from them.

He didn’t want to know how long he spent like that, releasing his grief, and being consoled by his lover. Instead, he stepped back and let DaQi wipe his face dry with his hand. He laughed softly as he caught DaQi’s hand and traced the tattoos still there.

“I look good in tattoos, right? Dangerous.”

Yi shook his head as he looked over to the fires again. He went back to reviewing the video feeds and stopped when he reached the footage of the tunnels.

“Shit, DaQi. The soldiers at the tunnel. I didn’t look closer because we were leaving. They’re not human.”

“What?”

Chan Yi sent the feed he had to DaQi and he saw the moment DaQi confirmed it. “They’re AI. This is what Mariner Tech has been manufacturing all these years.”

All the news feeds he’d been monitoring went black at the same time and Yi stood up straighter as a new message flashed over his optical display.

MARTIAL LAW HAS BEEN DECLARED FOR ALL LEVELS OF DOCK CITY.IT WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL THE RIOTS HAVE BEEN CONTAINED. STAY IN YOUR HOMES. LOCKDOWN MEASURES ARE IN EFFECT.

They watched the message blink a few times before the news feeds resumed. They both came to the conclusion at the same time.

“Sandus has control of the city.”