The Rise of Io Read Online Free PDF Page A

of him, his stupid call center, and being considered lower-tier. No matter what, she was a Quasing and she outranked all the humans who worked for the Prophus. She didn’t outrank any other Quasing – well, a few, maybe – but she didn’t have to take this insolence from a human.
    â€œI demand to speak with the Keeper.”
    â€œSorry, Io,” said Wyatt. “Just following orders. You can talk to me now or call back later and talk to someone else. It makes no difference to me.”
    Io swallowed her pride and began to dictate her report. “Previous host Emily Curran expired during an ambush by Genjix agents. New host is named Ella Patel: 54 kilograms, height 1.65 meters, black hair just above the shoulders, light-skinned, of Eastern Asian and Indian descent. No distinguishable markings except for a rash on her upper back and right cheek.”
    â€œMedical issue?”
    â€œWorse,” Io sighed. “More like puberty.”
    â€œCan you confirm those measurements again?” Wyatt asked. “They all seem a little light.”
    Io looked into the cracked mirror in the living room, and raised one of the host’s spindly arms. “Confirmed.”
    â€œIs there another identification regarding your new host, a UIDAI number or something?”
    Io looked around and saw a wallet lying on the table next to the stove. She checked the contents. There was nothing inside except for a few punch cards from restaurants, a train pass, and illiterate scribbles on scraps of paper. She found a crumpled state card in the back and recited the information.
    â€œStand by.” After a brief pause, Wyatt began to tell Io everything about her new host. “Ella Patel, age nineteen, carrying dual Indian and Singaporean citizenship. Nice little arrest record she has there. All relatively minor crimes. Nothing to worry about.
    â€œNo education past primary school. Current residence: unknown. Mother, Ada Patel, formerly Ada Siong, Major in the Republic of Singapore Air Force, based at Vadsar Air Base, now deceased. Died operating for the South Asian Mutual Defense Coalition during the Genjix Third Wave blitzkrieg from Pakistan in the first year of the war.” Wyatt paused. “At least Mom fought for our side. Hooray.” It was a very lukewarm cheer.
    â€œAnd the father?”
    â€œAnu Patel. Formerly a havildar with the Indian Army. Went missing after the fall of Gujurat. Current occupation: unknown. Current residence: unknown. Last known residence: Dharavi Slums, Mumbai.”
    Io continued to listen a while longer. These were all things she could scrape from Ella’s mind in time. Obtaining this information from the Prophus’s database was much easier than probing the girl’s brain, though. She would have had to update Command sooner or later anyway. None of it was going to matter in a while. None of it mattered now.
    â€œAll her relevant information is now scrubbed,” Wyatt said cheerfully. “Her records – including her extensive criminal one – have been purged; her identifications, fingerprints, and visual markers have been removed; and she now even has a great credit score. She is a complete ghost in the world systems, save for our records within the Prophus Command repository. Congratulations, Io, you are now the proud owner of a tiny teenage delinquent. Put her to good use against the Genjix, or, at the very least, steal their stuff.”
    â€œThank you, Analyst,” Io said. “The new host will require training. What resources do we have in the vicinity?” Io doubted the girl’s chances at a long life; not that it mattered, but she might as well go through the motions of a transition, lest she arouse any suspicion.
    â€œYou’re on your own in that region. The Prophus were pushed out of India during the war. Truthfully, we never had a strong presence there to begin with.”
    Humanity had only discovered the