Great White Throne by J. B. Simmons Read Free Book Online Page A

your own fate instead of groveling to others. Naomi’s life is in your hands.”  
    I nodded, unsure of what to say. Trust. Wait. I looked back at the moon, as if it held any answers. The night suddenly felt very quiet, very dark, and very lonely.  
    I turned back to Don, but he was gone.  

DON WAS NOWHERE to be seen in the following days. They passed in a blur of midnight feedings, 4 a.m. cries, and bleary-eyed, shuffling steps from Naomi’s room to mine. I wandered the halls but found no spot unguarded. I began getting used to the constant companionship of androids. My dreams came every night—the same ones, but each a slightly different iteration, each full of terror and confusion and hope. Naomi and I had no contact with the outside world. We heard nothing from God. Nothing from the order. Nothing from Don.
    One morning a tablet of information arrived. Its thin glass frame sat on the foot of my bed when I woke up. I’d slept through whatever snuck into my room and delivered it. The thought of some android leaning over me in my sleep made me want to shower.
    I didn’t touch the tablet. Not yet. I went through the robotic showering ritual, put on another black suit—the only clothes available. I went back into the bedroom and hesitated over the tablet. It was in the same place, a flat sheet of circuits. It couldn’t do any harm if I left it alone. But I couldn’t use it that way. Naomi and I weren’t getting anywhere on our own. I picked it up and walked out.  
    I passed the two androids waiting by the door. They didn’t follow, they never did. They had a thousand other machine-eyes to watch the palace.  
    I went straight to Naomi. We shared our good mornings: as usual, nothing new had happened during the night. More lost sleep. More of the same dreams. The baby was snoozing.
    “Look.” I held up the tablet, glinting in the morning light. “It showed up last night. I bet it’s the drone info.” I’d told her all about the conversation with Don.
    Naomi’s tired eyes fixed on the tablet. She motioned for me to join her on the bed, as we did when we wanted to avoid being overheard. She whispered, “I still don’t like this.”
    “Shouldn’t we at least see the information?”
    She leaned closer, her breath warm on my ear. Her voice was soft but firm. “It will be designed to deceive.”
    “I know,” I replied quietly, “but we can pray for God’s help while we review it.”
    “We should pray, but it’s not that simple. We’re not supposed to fling ourselves into temptation, and Don could make this irresistible. We may not know what he’s up to, but we know he’s full of lies. I don’t like the idea of you rebooting your precept, much less syncing with one of his drones. You can’t leave me alone here. You can’t go into this war, even if your intentions are to help the order. Don won’t let that happen anyway.”
    “It’s just my mind. My body will stay here.”
    A slight smile touched her lips, but not her eyes. “You think I want your body without your mind? Besides, Don’s drones will be more complex than what we used in ISA-7. You know the risks if your drone is taken out.”
    I thought of the Captain losing his mind and diving out of a skyscraper. The deeper we went in, the worse the shock if we got ejected. “I know the risks,” I said. “I’ll avoid a complete sync.”
    “Better to avoid syncing all together.”
    “Let’s at least see what information Don provided. We may have a chance to use it, even if I don’t sync.” I put on my most convincing smile. “I promise I won’t go unless it’s necessary.”
    “Nice try, pretty boy. What would make it necessary for you to go?”
    “If God tells me to do it.”
    “You’ll limit it to that?”
    Trust. Wait. “I promise.”
    We turned to lay on our backs, our sides pressed together, as I held up the glass tablet over us. It was as thin as paper, and not much heavier.  
    “You ready?” I asked.
    “Almost,” she