Free Only Superhuman by Christopher L. Bennett

her, to something behind her, and grew sad. “No … not quite all right. I’m so sorry.”
    Emry tried to stop herself from turning, but couldn’t. There was Daddy, rocking back and forth without a sound. And there was that .…
    Mr. Arkady took a tentative step toward him. “Sir … I’m sorry for your loss, but you need to come away with me. The building may not be stable. And your daughter needs you now.”
    Daddy looked up at that. At first he didn’t seem to know where he was, like he was sleepwalking. But then his eyes focused on her. He was like a statue for a moment, and then he shook himself and stood up. “Ohh, Emerald … my jewel … it’s just us now … I’ll take care of you now.…”
    But as he talked, something welled up in Emry, something terrible that burned her inside and tore out of her as the loudest scream she’d ever heard. “NOOOO!!!!!!!!” It went on for ages, and seemed to echo through the whole sphere like thunder.
    He reached for her, but she punched at him, struggling in the Troubleshooter’s arms. “You didn’t save her!!! Why didn’t you save her? You were supposed to protect her! You let her die! It’s your fault! I hate you!! I hate you!!!! ”
    The look in his eyes was like the one he’d had before—a look of terrible loss. But she didn’t care. He’d betrayed her. He’d failed her when it counted the most. She’d never hear her mother sing again, and it was his fault, and she knew she would hate him for the rest of her life.

 
    4
    Trouble Shared
    July 2107
Pellucidar habitat
In orbit of Vesta
    Emerald Blair took great satisfaction in punching herself in the face.
    Not that it was actually her face, or even a reasonable facsimile. Rather, it was the face of the overearnest, underweight Vestalian starlet who’d played her in that unauthorized vidnet biopic last month, the one they’d rushed into production to capitalize on the Chakra City incident. They could’ve gone virtual, but apparently figured the starlet’s fame would be at least as big a draw as Emry’s own, since they couldn’t legally use her likeness anyway.
    Of course, that hadn’t stopped Pellucidar’s control cyber from morphing the starlet’s likeness onto an android’s soligram skin and sending it to attack Emry. But Sorceress didn’t seem to have much use for human laws right now, including the ones about not killing people, or rather using her animatronic puppets to kill them. You’d think a cyber programmed with every work of fiction ever made would know how clichéd that is, Emry thought.
    The shamdroid’s head snapped back far enough from the punch to warrant an obituary had it been the actual starlet. Emry’s fantasy to that effect was marred by the fact that the soligram layer had been smashed in, leaving a fist-sized hole in the middle of its face. But the smart-matter gel re-formed into the starlet’s celebrated features— Hell, I’m prettier than that —and the neck quickly returned to normal. “You can’t keep the Banshee down!” it cried. These androids were built to withstand a lot of punishment from the patrons, and Sorceress was no longer bothering to make them play dead.
    It helped, though, that the cyber had picked such an ill-conceived opponent to stop her from reaching Pellucidar’s brain center. Sorceress seemed to think this was all a game, and apparently had decided it would be entertaining to pit Emry against an alternate version of herself. The starlet bot was dressed as the mod-gang member she’d been at seventeen, or some costume designer’s exaggerated notion thereof. She acted tough, but was too slight of build to pose much of a challenge, durability aside. Which was proving a disappointment to the gathering spectators.
    Damn it, I don’t have time for this! Emry thought as Banshee charged again. Don’t these vackheads know they’re in danger? It wouldn’t have surprised her from Earthers; they spent most of their lives immersed in their