Code Breakers: Beta (7 page)

“Interesting,” James said, stroking his chin. “I knew when I designed her internal systems that she would have immense capacity for the secure holding of AIs and viruses. I suppose her altered brain systems could accommodate such a melding if the new consciousness didn’t change too much of her neural system. But let’s not forget my sister died trying to upload her mind. It’s not an exact science. Even I don’t really know the full extent to my creations.”

Gabe winced internally at James’ use of language in reference to Petal. Gabe never saw her as anything but a regular, if not special, human being. The way James spoke of her, it brought to mind nothing more than a dispassionate robot.

“What about the fragment of Gerry that fucked up the transcendent?” Gabe asked. “Where does that fit into this? Does it mean that he’s not complete within Petal? Would that increase the risk of him going... wrong?”

“I’m still analysing the transcendent,” Enna said. “But early results show it was a capacity issue. My systems just don’t have the processing or bandwidth to hold something like a fully conscious mind like James’ tech.”

Gabe winced again.

“Fuck’s sake, guys, I am standing right here.” Petal slid off the theatre table. “You’re talking like I’m a machine. Have some respect, will you?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, Petal. I’m just thinking out loud,” James said.

Petal ignored him, stretching her arms and legs.

“One thing that we do know is that we need to fix Alpha,” James added. “If we’re to get to the bottom of this Gerry issue and deal with Elliot, we’re going to need her up and running with Omega.”

“What do you suggest?” Enna said. “With the ronin-chips being distributed throughout the Dome, we need to tackle this right away. We don’t have the parts or the knowledge to fix it.”

“There’s someone who might—” Petal looked to Gabe, cocking an eyebrow.

He knew whom she was talking about, and he didn’t like the suggestion one bit.

“No, girl, there’s gotta be another way.”

“You saw what she could do, what she could fix. She brought back technology destroyed in the EMPs fifty years ago. If anyone could do it, it’s her.”

“Yeah, I saw that, but I also got the scars of what else she could do, unless ya’ve forgotten?”

“Who are you two talking about?” Enna said. She moved away from the wall and slumped onto a stool by her control desk. She looked tired. Gabe wondered just how much sleep she had got. She’d been a rock since all the craziness had started with Gerry and the demon AI. No one had really taken care of her apart from him when he was around.

Being a regular citizen and a member of the Family must have been hard on her. Her family wanted her technology and intelligence but didn’t want to give her the resources that they themselves were afforded.

She must have felt like an unwanted child at times, but even with those difficult circumstances, she had done an amazing job at keeping the peace and furthering her research in her transcendents.

When all this was over, he thought, he’d move to Bachia, make sure she was okay. Their relationship had only ever been professional, he more like her employee or agent than anything else, but he often wondered why she had remained so loyal to him when others hadn’t.

“Well?” Enna asked.

Gabe took a deep breath. “There’s this... person, east of Baicheng, an old transport hub city, who has certain skills. Among them she reworks old tech.”

“You think she could fix Alpha?” Jess said, with a hopeful lilt to her voice.

“There’s a chance she could,” Gabe said.

“More than a chance,” Petal added. “I’ve seen tech she’s fixed.”

Jess’s face lit up with a smile, and she clapped her hands together. “Can you go to her? Bring Sakura back?”

“It’s not quite as easy as that,” Gabe said. “Let’s just say the last time we met her, there was friction.”

“She wants us dead,” Petal said. “But let’s not let something like that stop us from trying.”

Enna shook her head, and James looked bemused. “What happened?” he said.

“We’ll say that there was a disagreement about lunch arrangements,” Petal said.

“Is that option off the table, then?”

“No. There’s one thing we could do to make amends with her.” Petal turned and nodded towards to the failed transcendent within the glass unit at the opposite end of Enna’s lab. “What do you think, Gabe? It’s perfect, no?”

Gabe sighed. “Yeah, I think she’d like it. It’s what she would do with it that concerns me.”

“Worth the risk, though?”

“What do you have in mind?” Enna said, now looking concerned.

“If we were to visit her, we’d need to take a gift. To make amends. Would you be prepared to give up the transcendent?”

Gabe was hoping that Enna would refuse, not be willing to give up her precious technology that she spent years developing. Especially after losing Cheska for the second time, and so far being unable to repair her body enough to take another download. This was the last of her working transcendents.

“Yes,” Enna said. “If it means you can get Alpha fixed, I’m prepared to give it up. It’s just technology, right?” She smiled, but Gabe could see the unease in her face as she stared at her creation. He thought they were probably closer to a family for her than anything else she had.

“That’s settled, then,” Petal said. “We’ll take the Jaguar and set off right away. Gabe?”

He didn’t like this idea. Petal never saw everything that he saw.

“What’s this person’s name?” James asked.

“They call her the Tinker,” Gabe said. “Her name’s Shelley.”

“She sounds nice,” Jess said.

The poor girl had no idea. No idea at all.

Everyone was waiting on Gabe. He knew this was their only option in getting Alpha fixed, but it was almost no option at all. The last time he and Petal met with Shelley, things got a little crazy, and a lot out of control. She wouldn’t have forgotten. He hadn’t forgotten, still had the scars on his thighs to remind him. If they went back... but seeing everyone so hopeful, and they did have the transcendent—it might be enough. Might be.

“You realise we might not come back,” Gabe said to Petal.

“I’m willing to take that risk. I might not even survive as it is, so why not, eh? Do or die and all that jazz. It’s not like we’re living in luxury and having our every need catered to by sexy butlers made from gold and orgasms, is it? The future’s pretty shit with that mad bastard Elliot doing whatever he’s doing. Might as well try something to stop it being so shit.”

“What the hell. We’ll go.” He looked at the others. “But you lot need to find a contingency because it’s more than likely we won’t make it back with a fixed server, or make it back at all.”

“You make it sound like Shelley’s a monster,” Jess said, not really understanding the full implications.

“That’s exactly what she is,” Gabe said. “The worst monster you could imagine.”

“I’ll put the transcendent into stasis for travel. You can take one of the Jaguars,” Enna said. She sighed heavily, looking at her creation. It seemed everyone was willing to sacrifice something to give themselves a better future. It made Gabe think of his parents and their tribe again and what they had sacrificed in their search for a safe home. How far did they get? Was it worth it?

“If I go, and survive,” Gabe said, “I’m not coming back.”

“What do you mean?” Petal said.

“I’m gonna look for my people, or those that are left. If there are any.”

Petal walked around the table until she was stood in front of him. She hugged him, speaking into his chest. “I’ll come with you. I won’t let you face that on your own.”

Gabe closed his eyes, hugged Petal tight, and tried to hold back the tears.

He could only choke out a single word. “Thanks.” When he looked up, he saw James look on from the other side of the lab with a mix of jealousy and regret.

“Come on,” Gabe said. “Let’s get packed and ready for Shelley.”

Petal stepped back, gave him a mischievous smile, and then said, “By the way. You look ridiculous without your dreads. You don’t look like you.”

“I’m not me—not anymore.”

Petal gave him an uneasy smile before her face relaxed and became serious. He saw a tinge of worry creep into the thin wrinkles on her forehead.

Chapter 6

Sasha was bored of waiting, cuffed to a shelving unit. She guessed she’d been locked in the makeshift prison cell for at least a night. When she was first taken, by three unseen people, and locked up, the place was quiet. Over the last few hours, like an industrial dawn chorus, various machines started up their unique voices. One rumbled a constant dirge, while another hissed and exhaled in short bursts. The walls vibrated with energy. Pipes overhead shook and rattled as gas and liquids passed through to power equipment in other areas of the subterranean engineering plant.

Above it all, the metal-on-metal sound of the tram shook her room each time it passed, the frequency increasing every half hour or so. The room itself was nothing more than a maintenance hold, though its metal racking was empty of tools or anything useful. A half-used carton of oil and a bucket of engine grease were the only items of interest. The rest of the room was a patchwork of rusted metal and stained surfaces.

Her cuffs bit into the skin of her wrists. A thick, graphene-strengthened chain looped around a metal girder making up the side of the racking units. The rust-red surface featured a mass of scratches, making Sasha think she wasn’t the first person to be kept in the room.

Sweat dampened her back and her neck. She breathed in thick, humid air, making her lungs feel heavy and weak. She yawned, wondering how long she’d be stuck in this hot, filthy box.

Every few minutes she attempted to send Malik, or anyone, a message with her internal systems, but her captors had placed electromagnetic shielding, in the form of what looked like bracers, around her forearms. She could neither send nor receive any data at all.

Perhaps Malik would raise the alarm and bring help, she thought. Perhaps he would come alone after realising she hadn’t messaged him further. How long would he have waited in the dark? Then she thought of something that made her heart grow cold: what if he was in on it? What if he was working for these people?

She hated herself for thinking it.

She knew Malik. Knew he was a good man, but she’d seen and learned enough to know that people can turn when you least expect them to. Maybe they offered him something the interim government couldn’t? Maybe he wanted to return to a system of servitude? Instead of the Family, he’d answer to Elliot. Maybe he just wasn’t given an option?

Considering how things had escalated, it was only a matter of time before those who were chipped and under Elliot’s rule would equal the number of free citizens. Hell, it wouldn’t even take an equal amount. It would only require a small but motivated force to wipe out the interim government and its already stretched security resources and assume control of the city. The average citizen wouldn’t fight it. They’d been prepared already to have a sheeplike mentality under the Family’s control.

A hundred scenarios grew from her fertile imagination as she continued to rock her body back and forth, banging against the girder in order to stay awake, stay sharp.

She coughed a dry cough. Her throat flared with pain, its arid surface in desperate need of water and the humid air not enough to keep away the soreness. She regretted screaming so hard in the beginning.

Leaning against the girder, she slumped to the floor and felt the hard metal through her thin suit. Tiredness came over in great waves, the tide of sleep dragging her out to sea. At first she thought she was half-dreaming it: a sound, like a rattle, came from the iron door.

It crept open; the triangular beam of light penetrating the darkness of the room grew wider until finally she was caught within its ray. She looked up, blinking. Two women with dark brown coveralls and curious facemasks entered the room. The masks were white and covered three quarters of their faces. Wide holes exposed their eyes; two smaller ones were placed in front of the nostrils. A round grill allowed them to breathe.

“You do anything stupid, and we’ll taze you until you’re dead. Do you understand?” The voice came from the smaller of the two. She wore her hair in a close-shaved fashion.

“I understand,” Sasha said, croaking the words out.

The taller of the two women held a tazer with two sharp points against her neck. The smaller woman reached over and untethered her wrist cuffs from the metal girder. Before Sasha could act, her arms were pulled behind her back and secured once more.

“Now, we’re gonna take you for a little walk. You’re savvy enough not to do anything stupid, aren’t you?” The voice came from behind and close to her ear.

Sasha nodded her compliance. The ronin women led her out onto a metal gantry, high above a ground floor.

Great iron struts holding up the ceiling rose like trees. More pipework ran the lengths of the gantry. Pockets of steam billowed up from various spaces within the engineering plant.

As they led her away, Sasha noticed other doors to her left, presumably leading into similar rooms to the one in which she was held. Further up the gantry, another group of people in the same dark coveralls and white masks set about their business, some carrying tools, others helping non-masked people out of the rooms.

She managed to glimpse into one as she passed. It resembled a hospital room and reminded her of Jimmy’s setup back at Criborg: beds with various computers and holoscreens about them. She presumed this was where the ronin-chips were installed and integrated to their system.

They reached a steel staircase leading down to the ground floor.

“Where are we going?” Sasha asked.

“To see the Engineer. He’s taken quite an interest in you.”

That made her think that perhaps this was a setup and the assassin had missed purposely so that Sasha would follow. She had led herself into trouble. Certainly made it easier than trying to kidnap her in a more secure area of the city.

Step by step, with a guard holding onto each of her arms, Sasha descended the stairs.

They led her across the floor of the plant, avoiding the puddles of oil and dripping water from the overhead pipes. She could feel a rumble beneath her feet, like an engine running somewhere in the facility. What they were building, she had no clue. Nothing good, she thought.

They came to an open door that led into a dark tunnel. Sasha caught a flash of something very briefly out of the corner of her eye as she passed one of the steel columns. Was that?

Two ‘pfft’ sounds came from behind her. Her guards jerked, then stumbled forward, dragging Sasha to the floor as they fell. Sasha’s face bounced off the rough metal. Pain exploded in her right eye and cheekbone.

“Motherfucker!” she screamed and kicked out her legs with the shock of the hit.

It didn’t take long for her to see the blood, or that it was coming from the back of her guards’ heads. The entry wounds left a wide circumference with torn edges.

A soft pair of footsteps from behind her made her spin onto her back. She looked up and released her arms from the guards’ dead hands.

A human form, silhouetted by the overhead lights, looked down at her.

“Sasha, are you okay?”

“Fuck,” Sasha whispered. “Malik, that you?”

She reached up a hand. He gripped it and pulled her to her feet.

“How the hell did you—?”

“Come on. We haven’t got much time. There’s a group of them coming this way. Help me hide the bodies.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. “Thank you,” she said. He hugged her in turn.

“I couldn’t have just left you, could I?”

“Did you get help?”

“No. I’ve been stuck down here all night. The place is a bloody maze. Took me ages to find you.”

“You’re a freakin’ saint.”

“I told you I got your back. Come on. Let’s get on with it.”

Malik took a key from one of the bodies and released the metal cuffs, then, taking a knife from his belt, he cut away the EM-shielding bracers from her forearms. Her skin prickled in the open air. She rubbed her wrists and forearms, grateful for the flow of blood.

“Hmm,” Sasha said.

“What’s up?”

“Still no signal, even without the EM-bracers. They must have the place shielded or encrypted too.”

“Makes sense.”

As Malik reached down to help her up, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling at him. Partially with the relief of being saved, but also that it was him that came to help her. She couldn’t have imagined how difficult it must have been to stay hidden all this time, trying to find her. She felt terrible for even thinking he could have been complicit in her capture.

“Thanks, Mal, I mean it. I thought...”

Malik gave her a wink. “I couldn’t just leave you, could I? Come on. Let’s get these bodies hidden before we’re spotted.” He glanced around. Sasha looked past him and saw the shadows of people moving around on the upper levels. They wouldn’t be able to see their current position, but if the ronin were to come down the stairs, then it wouldn’t take long.

They dragged the bodies out of the open part of the ground floor and placed them into an abandoned room. They shifted the bodies beneath a series of rusted workbenches standing against the back wall of the room. They covered them over with a filthy tarp found on the floor. Sasha took a wakazashi from one of the ronin—a short-bladed weapon similar in style to a katana.

“Do you know the way out?” Sasha asked.

Malik’s face screwed up. “I have a vague idea. It was mostly dark when I was scouring the place for you. It’s easy to lose your way, but I came in from over there.” Malik pointed to a corridor on the far side of the open area. It looked like it led perpendicular to the corridor where the guards were taking her. Away from ‘the Engineer’ was a good thing.

Wasting no time, she grabbed Malik’s hand and rushed to the open door. Just as they passed through, she saw a group of workers, or whatever they were, come down the stairs. They were currently chatting amongst themselves and didn’t see them—or at least she hoped they didn’t.

They both sprinted into the darkness. Malik led her through a number of narrow access ways, turning this way and that. Sasha noted that Malik used a number of pipe formations and other engineering infrastructure as landmarks to navigate his way. He came to a stop when the corridor split off in two directions.

“Fuck, I don’t know which one I came through,” Malik said.

Sasha approached both entrances. She heard voices and footsteps coming from the one on the right. “We go left,” she whispered and beckoned him on.

A hundred or so metres through the tunnel, Malik suddenly stopped and fell onto his front. A snap of a metal mechanism. The wet sound of flesh. The crunch of bone. Malik bit on his fist, his eyes wide, and his face tensed with agony.

“What’s the matter?” Sasha whispered, thinking he twisted his ankle, but when she got closer, she saw that a heavy metal trap had bit into his calf, just below his knee. The damn trap was welded to the floor. Its steel jaws firmly clamped around the bone.

“Holy Christ, hold on, Mal... Just hold on.”

Malik wept with pain as he held back his screams.

The sound of voices echoed through the tunnel, bouncing off the metal of yet more pipes and service conduits. There were no lights on, but she could see the faint glimmer of a flashlight at the far end. She took her new blade, wedged it between the steel jaws of the trap and tried to prise it open, but the strength was too much and threatened to snap the blade.

“Shit, Mal, I can’t get it open. What do I do? What do I do?”

“The blood... Stop...” Malik’s face was awash with sweat, his eyes closed tight as his body tensed with the waves of pain. Sasha felt so useless, but she tried to focus, remembering her combat training: focus on the task at hand, be logical.

The voices were getting louder. They would be on them in minutes, if not sooner.

She couldn’t get the jaws open.

Staunch the flow of blood! Ripping the leg material from her suit, she tied it around the wound. With each turn, Malik yelped into his fist, which bled under the pressure of his bite.

“I’m so sorry,” Sasha kept whispering.

Worried that it wouldn’t be enough, she ripped another strip of fabric off and created a tourniquet, tying it tightly around his thigh, just above the knee.

The flashlights were getting brighter, and she could make out the forms of three figures. They were laughing and joking to themselves. She needed to use this situation to her advantage.

Dragging the silenced rifle from underneath Malik, she knelt down in front of him, placed the butt of the rifle into the crook of her shoulder, and stared down the scope. The internal HUD told her she had five rounds. The rangefinder read the group as less than fifty metres away.

A beam of light washed over her. The laughing stopped. She pulled the trigger once, twice, three times. Two bodies hit the ground; the third shot ricocheted off the pipework, creating a spark. The third person pulled a gun from inside his jacket and aimed it at Sasha. She shot for the fourth time, the body fell to its knees, and the fifth shot blew the top of his head off. The body slumped forward with a wet thud.

High with fear and shock, she turned to Malik.

He lay on his back, his right leg held out at an awkward angle within the trap. His eyes were shut, unconscious.

Sasha felt so alone then with no one else to defer to: no General Vickers to scream orders or Jimmy to calmly give her a procedure. She didn’t know the way out, had three corpses at one end, and Malik trapped at the other, and no ammo left in the rifle. She wanted to scream and let out all her rage and frustration.

Kneeling over Malik’s body, she placed her head on his chest, listening to his heart. It still beat regular and strong. She knew he was resilient, given the wounds he suffered at the hands of the Red Widows. They should have killed him, yet he still managed to cling to life.

She just hoped he could do the same until she figured a way out.

***

It may have been the shock kicking in, but eventually Sasha bolted up from Malik’s prone body. There must be something she could do. Couldn’t just leave him there bleeding out.

She moved back down the tunnel to the bodies and checked them for anything useful. Other than a couple of pistols and various personal detritus, they carried nothing of use. She considered the option of taking their clothes and a mask and sneaking out, but that would be no use to Malik. He wouldn’t have long unless she could get him out of the trap.