GeneStorm: City in the Sky (40 page)

The security building had a front office and bench, a coffee room, sleeping quarters and kitchens. The team shrugged off their backpacks and satchels, ready to fill them with finds.

With practiced efficiency, Snapper looked into a small infirmary and came out carrying a box and a large first aid case. The little box had several arms, cameras and weird limbs all contracted inside itself. It seemed to need batteries, but apart from that, it appeared in perfect condition. “Hey Kitt. Is this an autodoc?”

“Seems likely.” The mantis was peering into a cupboard. “Have the chairman initialise it. Take a battery.” The mantis tossed over a battery. “Catch!”

“Excellent. Beau? Do that thing.”

Kenda had opened a locker. Clearly it had once been an armoury of some kind, but now is sat empty except for a dark blue helmet, a breastplate and a box containing two small, hefty black spheres. Beau peered inside as Kenda took one of the spheres in hand, and gave a frown.

“I had hoped there might be more weapons here.”

Kenda waved a hand towards computer equipment set into the desk.

“Ask.”

Beau brightened. He strutted forward and rapped upon the desk with one elegant claw.

“I say there! Mister Computer. Are you there?”

The hologram flickered into existence – a very small figure that stood at one corner of the desk.
“I hear you, honoured chairman.”

“I am interested in our stocks of security weapons. How many are currently in storage here?”

“All forty one security personnel currently have their issued stun pistols and shock batons. None have been returned to storage. Patrol cars one through five are equipped with stun rifles.”

“Right, so, are those all the weapons on board?”

“No, honoured chairman.”
The little hologram was joined by a map.
“The auxiliary security compound currently holds reserve weapon stores. They are located beside the auxiliary security barracks.”
The map showed a blinking light at the middle of the odd little gathering of tents.
“Five hundred Straker P 17 plasma assault rifles, twenty four Mateba model 9 plasma pistols. One thousand and forty eight spare power cartridges.”

Snapper moved closer. “Oh my god! That’s it! That’s the prize.”

Kitt had her hands against her heart, utterly thrilled. “Ask it if they’re new! They might still have a virus!”

Beau nodded. “Computer – are these weapons new? Have they ever been used?”

“Weapons have been received in factory fresh condition. No activation.”
A string of numbers and dates flashed up in mid air.
“Packing crates opened for inspection on arrival. Contents verified and re-sealed per order of board of directors.”

Snapper swayed, almost boneless with relief.

“We did it.” She turned to Kitterpokkie, almost dazed with joy. “These are battle winners. We did it!”

“Yes.”

Snapper turned at the voice, to see Kenda with his huge rifle levelled at her heart.

“We thank you.”

Kenda shot Snapper in the chest.

The impact threw her back, crashing into a wall. Dazed, she heard Kitt screaming, saw Beau snatching for his pistols, and then a black ball thudded to the floor. A brilliant flash and screaming blast of noise filled the room.

Beau fired blindly in the direction of the door. He hit Kenda a stinging graze along the arm. Kenda fell back, dodging aside as a bullet almost took his head off. Beau crouched in cover, trying to blink painful lights out of his eyes.

“Kenda!”

A rifle bullet slashed just above Beau’s head. A dozen metres away, Kenda was nothing but a blur to Beau’s damaged eyes.

“Mutant scum!” Kenda reloaded his breechloader. “Disgusting mutant filth, laying claim to a world!” The man fired again and again at the doorway, bullets crashing into the walls behind. “Now you will see how pure human blood deals with usurpers!”

Kenda stood.

“The Screamers are coming. And this time, they will be followed by a crusading army! We will scour the world clean – the great work is begun.”

Beau ignited a bomb and hurtled it blindly through the door. It fell hissing and spitting, then detonated with a thunderous bang.

Stumbling forward, Beau crashed against furniture and battled out into the open, firing his last rounds. Through half blinded eyes he saw Kenda fifty metres away, racing towards the robot pits.

As he approached the pit, a huge armoured robot arose. Kenda ran forward and slapped his bloody hand against a plate in the machine’s chest.

“Pure human! Unsullied.”

The robot rose to loom over Kenda, weapons deploying – power humming and thundering inside its chest. It focussed upon Kenda, then a deep voice boomed from the robot’s head.

“Confirmed. Uncontaminated human.”

Kenda pointed back towards the security hut.

“Contaminated mutants have breached the city.”

The robot suddenly seemed to crouch – alert and deadly. It moved up and out of the pit.
“Quarantine level five. Search and destroy all mutants.”

“Yes!”
There was a triumphant edge to Kenda’s voice.
“Search and destroy!”

Combat robots emerged from the pits, weapons swinging down to lock in position. Ignoring Kenda, they fanned out to scan the compound. Kenda moved off towards weapon crates, laying a possessive hand upon the cargo vehicles.

Beau staggered back into the security building and closed the door. He heard the others moving, heard Snapper coughing. The hologram again shimmered into life beside them.

“Quarantine level five protocol. Active systems now deployed.”
The glowing image shivered in the lingering smoke.

“Remain still and seated. All mutants will be identified and exterminated.”

Chapter 16

“Snapper!”

Kitterpokkie blundered, blinded, reaching to seize hold of Snapper. She felt for a pulse even while her head span with shock. “Snapper? Jemima!
Jemima?”

The shark coughed. She opened up her eyes, wincing.

“D-don’t call me Jemima.”

“Oh my god!” Kitterpokkie ran her hands over Snapper’s new breastplate. Kenda’s bullet had struck the breastplate, left a score of molten led across the black surface – and had bounced clean off. “It didn’t penetrate.”

“Bastard! I’ll take his head off.” Snapper groaned and put a hand against her breastplate. “What the hell was he firing? Felt like getting kicked by a frog-mule.”

“Can you stand?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Snapper struggled to her feet. “Cowardly arsehole! Guess he never wanted to risk going blade-to-blade….”

The door was bolted shut. Beau had found a manual lock and somehow shoved it home. A moment later, there was a crash against the entrance like a steel drum being smashed by a falling anvil. It was immediately followed by a plasma blast slamming against the outer door. Beau leapt back as electrical charge arced and cracked across the metal.

Another blast came, then another. Snapper leaned on a bench with Throckmorton anxiously fetching her fallen helmet. She looked at the door.

“What the hell is that?”

“Robots. Lots and lots of robots.” The fox-pheasant was finally regaining some of his sight. “Kenda summoned them. He’s pure human!”

“Shit.” Snapper blinked, trying to clear her eyes. “He’s out there?”

“I tagged him.” Beau checked his pistol chambers. They were all empty. “He’s after the plasma guns!”

“What for?”

“For an army.”

The door crashed and rang. It sounded like three or four robots were firing at the door now. Snapper hoped that the animals were alright in the rear garage.

“He’s pure human? You’re sure?”

“The robots scanned his blood. Pure human – no admix at all.” Beau fumbled his pistols back into their holsters. “Absolutely pure.”

“Completely?” Kitterpokkie was amazed. There were weird-landers who looked human, but their genes had definitely taken on a hidden shift or two. “But he’s green! Green as grass!”

“Could be dye. They must have an enclave.”

“East – in the desert.” Kitterpokkie handed Snapper her carbine. “It has to be east. Not north. He didn’t know it was possible to cross the cliff barrier.”

The savage pounding against the security door took on a steady rhythm, and the entire inner surface was now red hot. Snapper looked at the metal in alarm.

“How long can the door take that?”

“It has to melt through eventually.” Kitt could already see the inner surface discolouring from the heat. “A few minutes – no more.”

Something crashed against the wall a few metres from the door. Something else was on the roof, blasting down at the ceiling. The robots were clearly in a killing frenzy. Kitterpokkie looked about and found the hologram waiting patiently over in a corner.

“Computer! Are there security cameras outside?”

“I am sorry. Access is limited to registered security personnel. A member of the family of the board of directors is currently on duty. You should speak to them in this regard.”

Snapper called across to Beau.

“Hey – family of the board of directors! Ask about cameras!”

“Yes.” Beau backed away from the door. The room was becoming hot. “Um – computer? Hi! Honoured chairman here!”

The hologram fluttered.
“Yes, honoured chairman.”

“Can we please have access to the security cameras?”

A large map of the city appeared in mid air, flickering and shimmering. An array of menus flashed up beside it.

“Please indicate areas of interest. Active cameras will be highlighted. Feeds and camera tracking commands can be accessed via the screen.”

Beau ran up to the map and reached out to touch the general area of the security buildings. The map zoomed in, and he managed to manipulate it with his hands. A camera location blinked, and Beau touched the icon. A second window opened in mid air, and a picture flickered into life.

The new window showed the security bunker with robots blasting plasma weapons straight at the doors. Four fired at the doors – two more at the walls. Another was on the roof, trying to blast though. Yet more robots seemed to be out in the compound. Beau looked utterly dismayed.

“Oh dear.”

Snapper was alive with alarm. “Are the animals OK?”

“Aaah… Yes!” Beau managed to track a camera around to face towards the garage. The door was still down, although it appeared that Pendleton was peeking an eye out to watch the mayhem at the security building. “They’re alright for now.”

“How many robots have we got out there?”

Beau found a camera with a high viewpoint – apparently up in one of the artificial trees. It showed the security building under siege, and a new file of robots rising up out of a hatchway that led beneath the decks.

“Um, fifty? There’s new ones fanning out to search the park.” He winced. “Aaaaand twelve more just came out of a tree…”

Throckmorton came fluttering back from a side corridor. He excitedly honked his horn.

“Throckmorton has found a hatch in the floor!”

Kitterpokkie looked relieved. “Yes, well there had to be an emergency exit, of course!”

“Wait wait wait!” Snapper waved a hand at the menu beside the map. “Beau – can you get a picture of the deck below us here? Maybe find that hatch?”

Some experimenting found the correct menu. A map of the next layer just below the park appeared. Beau found a camera covering a corridor that ran right beneath their feet. It showed a waiting group of four security robots, weapons trained on the hatch, waiting to open fire upon anything that attempted to escape.

Beau frowned. “These robots are really starting to annoy me...” He switched back to a view of the world outside the front door, then flicked to another camera. He caught sight of Kenda, who was now climbing aboard a cargo truck as a robotic fork lift loaded the last case of rifles into place. He had a plasma pistol on his belt. The vehicle drove off across the plastic grass, heading towards the hangar bay.

Snapper cursed. “The aircraft we came in – it’s unlocked. He’ll be able to fly it!”

Throckmorton was extremely wary of heat, fire and open flame. He took cover behind the office desk.

“The door is melting.”

Beau turned and grandly waved a hand at the hologram.

“Computer! This is the chairman. Shut down all the security robots!”

“An authorisation from another board member must be recorded in order to initiate security system overrides.”

The door began to bulge inward. Kitterpokkie ran a hand through her antennae and tried to think.

“Wait wait wait! Shutting down the robots is the only option.” She turned to the computer. “Excuse me computer! What constitutes a member of the board?”

“An elected member of the board of directors of the Mistral Securities Corporation.”
The hologram pointed to a diagram showing a rather tight, closed company structure.
“Membership is voted, and also automatically includes all members of the founder’s immediate family.”

“Brothers, daughters, sons in law – that sort of thing?”

“Yes, citizen.”

“And the chairman is… close family to the founder, of course.”

“Yes, citizen.”

Kitterpokkie paced back and forth. “They must have a structure that allows that family to expand – otherwise they would all die out! So we need to attach someone onto the family – make them a board member, then they can second the command to deactivate the robots.”

Snapper was at a loss. “And how do we do that?”

“One of us marries Beau!”

The shark blinked. “We
what?”

Kitt waved at the hologram. “Computer – can you register marriages?”

“Yes citizen. If so requested by a member of the board.”

“Perfect!” Kitt waved her many hands. “So – Beau – tell it to register your marriage.”

“Oh, of course.” The fox-bird dusted off his breastplate and smoothed back his feathers. “To whom shall I be married?”

There was a moment’s pause. Throckmorton suddenly waved a tentacle.

“Throckmorton is not convinced that he and Beau are physically compatible.”

Kitt cleared her throat. “I’m very much married to my work…”

Snapper flicked a glance at the melting door. “It’s not a real marriage! It’s just a marriage of
‘Hey, let’s not get melted’
!” She ran up to the computer hologram. “Fine – he’s marrying me!”

“Ah!” Beau waved his glowing pendant. “Computer, I wish to be married to this person beside me.”

The computer equipment on the desk showed a blue light glowing beside a little grey pad.

“Please scan the personal ID chip of the individual who will be joining your family. The happy couple may then take their vows for official registration.”

Everyone stared at each other. Snapper slapped at her empty coin purse.

“ID chip?”

No one had money. No one had taken any chips from the dead out in the city. Snapper looked about the room.

“It has to be high value! Something they’d believe would marry a chairman of the board…” Suddenly her hand fell upon her helmet’s fur turban. She scrabbled beneath, and pulled out a gleaming blue chip.

“Here! Here here!”

It was the blue chip she had found on the bones of the dead motorcyclist, way back on the first day the Screamers had appeared. She placed the chip onto the scanner, and the computer blinked its light to green.

There was a moment’s pause, then the computer voice beamed.

“Welcome to the family, Andre Castanello.”

“Andre?” Snapper raised one brow. “We’re a same sex marriage?”

Beau performed a majestic bow. “The machine cannot behold your very obvious, very charming, most utterly riveting physical charms.”

“Watch it, you!” Snapper turned to the computer. “What’s next?”

A section of the door began to melt. Sparks sprayed inwards as the next shot hit the weakening metal. Inside the room, the computer hologram wavered.

“Do you wish to register a prenuptial agreement?”

“Yeah – how about an agreement that if he so much as touches me, I’ll punch him in the snout!”

“So registered.”
The machine hummed.
“Would you like a full wedding service?”

“Oh why not!” Beau brightened. “I always wanted a full wedding!”

“Beau! Just tell the thing to make us married!” Sparks were spraying inwards. The door almost burst open. “Move it!”

Beau cleared his throat. “Quickest registry possible, please computer!”

“Certainly.”
The computer hummed.
“In accordance with section five, subsection three of the municipal codes for registry of births, deaths and marriages, the wedding of these two individuals is hereby recorded and attested.”
The hologram turned to face Beau.

“Do you…”

Beau hurried leapt in. “I do!”

The computer hologram faced Snapper.
“And do you….?”

“Yes!” The shark was backing away from the door as a blast of molten metal showered inwards. Part of the ceiling started to crack and shatter. “I do, I do, I do!”

A plasma bolt burst through the molten door and slammed against the wall. The computer hologram stopped and stuttered, the voice wavering horribly.

“You are hereby registered. Congratulations.”
The hologram faced Beau.
“Honoured chairman – you may now kiss your partner.”

“Don’t even think it!” Snapper ducked as three more plasma bolts slammed into the walls. “Computer! I second the chairman’s command! Deactivate all security robots! deactivate all security robots!”

The molten door was wrenched apart by a robot’s armoured claws. The killer machine lunged inward, weapons ready. Snapper drew her sword and dodged aside, ready to try and decapitate the damned thing. But the robot suddenly froze in place.

Molten metal
slowly drip-drip-dripped
to the floor. Outside the building, silence reigned. Throckmorton carefully emerged from cover, crossbow pointed at the robot.

“Are we alive?”

“I believe so.” Kitterpokkie had managed to cling to an upper wall. She clambered awkwardly down. “Computer? Computer?”

The hologram fizzled. One of the last plasma bolts had struck the equipment, shorting out some panels and vaporising others. The hologram struggled, but was apparently off line. The computer voice now came from a single speaker somewhere back behind the desk.