The Saffron Malformation (67 page)

A Feast For Friends and Dangerous Enemies

             
There was only one useful thing they could think to do with the data they’d collected, of course actually doing it was going to prove problematic. 

             
“Rachel you think you and Ryla can figure a way to get this on the network?” Quey had asked.

             
Rachel took a deep breath, her face flared slightly, “It’ll be tricky.  There are filters on the network that scan everything before it’s posted and I’m pretty sure this is just the sort of stuff that’s going to get flagged.”

             
“Nothing you can’t handle though, right?” he insisted.

             
She huffed with a smile, slightly annoyed.  “I don’t know.  But what I do know is that I don’t think we should stop at the planetary network.  I think we need to get this to the universal signal.”

             
“Hasn’t that been down for years?  Since before the south continent bullshit?” Reggie asked.

             
“It’s been down from the public,” Rain said, and they looked to her.  “Blue Moon still has access to it.”

             
Rachel nodded as if she’d suspected as much, “They’re not going to leave the planet with no means of communication with the headquarters.  Plus they’ll need updates for their systems from the core.”

             
“So what then?” Arnie asked.  “You want to crack into Blue Moon and upload to the universal network from there?”

             
Rachel shrugged, “It’s some major hacking, but I’ve managed something like it in the past.  Besides, we have to crack into their system anyway, just to get our data past the filters, might as well go the next step and get this stuff out there to the other planets and, more importantly, to Blue Moon’s competitors.”

             
“Fuck yeah,” Reggie said.  “Burn ‘em all the way to the top.”

             
“Not likely,” Rachel said.  “More likely Blue Moon denounces Richter Crow as a rogue, vilifies him and does their best to spin this into an opportunity to learn so tragedies such as this won’t happen in the future.”

             
“And that won’t be hard now that he’s considered an independent contractor,” Rain added.

             
There was a silent nod of agreement around the table save for Rain, whose stomach twisted.  Even with all the bad he’d done, all she could think about was playing in the back yard, a little girl in a lovely blue dress, laughing and running into his arms.  He’d been smiling and when he lifted her and spun her around she’d laughed and smelled his rugged scent.  A memory of whisky, cigars and sunshine and the world whirling around as he spun her came to her with striking clarity.

             
The conversation had continued without her attention.  Ryla said she needed to get back to working on the data.

             
“And I need to start figuring out how we’re going to get into Blue Moon’s computers,” Rachel added.

             
So that’s where they were.  Ryla and Rachel sat at the large computer bank in the center of the cold and massive room on the second floor while the others waited elsewhere, passing the time however they could find.  Reggie, Natalie and Quey took to the first floor to play billiards while Rain and Arnie had some time alone in their room.  They confined the kids to the third floor, chided and guilt riddled about their snooping through the lower levels.

             
Ryla was processing data while Rachel sat at the station beside her, working on a program she hoped would find a crack in Blue Moon’s system.  Her’s was the more difficult task, Ryla knew, as she hit enter and initiated a computer simulation based on Geo’s data.  For the next two hours her job would be waiting for the simulation to end.

             
“Need any help?” Ryla asked.

             
Rachel glanced over and shook her head.  When she returned her attention to the screen red lights along the ceiling began to flash across the room.  Bowserbot and Mecha-Ganon rolled into the room, a red light on each of their heads, and came to a stop near Ryla.

             
“What is it?” Rachel asked as Ryla switched her holoscreen to the buildings security program.

             
“Someone’s coming,” Ryla replied.  She accessed the camera feed marked, ‘New object detected.’  Rachel moved to look over her shoulder and peered at the image, clear as if it were on the other side of a window.  Ryla’s face twisted with confusion while Rachel’s gaped with realization.

             
“Motherfuckers,” Rachel growled.  Ryla looked over her shoulder, at the fury in her eyes.  Rachel nearly snarled when she said, “Tell Quey to meet us up here.  Tell him to bring some guns.”

             
Quey had been about to sink the eight ball and win back his last bottles of pumpkin shine when the room flashed red.  His head dropped and he exclaimed, “Now what?”

             
“Quey,” Ryla’s voice came over the intercom.  “You are required on the second floor.”

             
“Looks like it’s not your day,” Reggie said with a smile as he picked up a bottle of pumpkin shine.  Natalie chuckled.

             
Quey pointed at him and said, “Don’t go openin that just yet.”  He tossed the cue stick onto the table and said, “To be continued,” before starting from the room.  Reggie and Natalie followed.

             
The elevators opened and the trio stepped onto the second floor as Rain and Arnie arrived from the third.  “What’s going on?” Arnie asked.

             
Quey just shook his head with a shrug and hurried into the main room.  Rachel was standing behind the computer bank, pacing slowly, lost in thought and clearly upset, while Ryla sat staring at one of the screens.

             
“What is it?” he asked as he crossed the room.

             
“Someone’s coming,” Ryla informed them.

             
“It’s the fucking brood,” Rachel snapped, nearly yelling.  Then she started from the room.

             
“Where are you going?” Quey asked.

             
She looked at him with a hungry frenzy in her eyes.  “I’m going to get my rifle.  Then I’m going to the roof.”

             
Quey looked from her to Ryla, who sat still and watching, then back again.  “Hold on now, last time I was here I seem to remember this place being pretty good at taking care of itself.”  He looked to Ryla again.

             
“The likelihood of them surviving an aggressive approach to the building is very low,” she tried to assure them.

             
“Well I mean to make damn certain that likelihood is nonexistent.”  She stormed off, hands still, eyes sharp as daggers, and with a belly that twisted and quivered with sorrow and rage.

             
“Reggie, will you make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”

             
“Gotcha covered,” he replied and hurried to follow Rachel.

             
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ryla said as Quey stepped to her.  “Her presence on the roof will have little effect on the broods likelihood of success, given all the other means of defense this building is capable of.  Her function is insignificant.”

             
Quey smiled slightly and nodded, “You’re likely right, but hers isn’t a function of practicality so much as desire.”

             
“I don’t understand,” she replied.

             
Rain stepped forward.  “They killed her husband,” she said.

             
Ryla nodded.  “I don’t understand.”

             
“They hurt her,” Quey said, “So now she means to hurt them back.”

             
“Maybe we should talk to her,” Natalie suggested.

             
Quey shook his head.  “All trying to stop her is going to do is fuel that flame so I figure the best means of dealing with it is to let it burn itself out.”

             
“What function does it serve, for her to hurt them back?”

             
“It’ll make her feel better,” Quey said.  “Or at least she thinks it will.”

             
Ryla was puzzled.  Rain stepped beside her and said, “Jacob wants to kill you.  What function does that serve?”

             
“He thinks I’m a traitor for not giving all my robots the personal development program.”

             
“But what function does the act of killing you have?”

             
She thought on that for a moment before it occurred to her.  “None.”  Suddenly it made sense to her and she said, “He is crazy.”

             
Rain smiled and stroked her hair.  “No.”  When she looked up Rain told her, “He’s just hurt.”

             
Ryla thought for a bit and though she didn’t get it, she thought she understood.

             
“Real question,” Quey said, “Is how the hell they found us out here.”

             
“The cluster of bodies we left in that diner parking lot might have given them a tip,” Rain said and he nodded slightly.

             
“That might lead them to the waste, but what brought them here specifically.”

             
“Are we sure they know we’re here?” Natalie asked.  They looked to her and she added, “Could be they’re just combing the road, looking wherever they can.”

             
Quey nodded thoughtfully, “Could be.”

             
“Yeah,” Arnie added, “How many structures are out here?  And how many functioning?”

             
“If they pinned us to the waste this is one of only a few places to look,” Quey agreed again.

             
“If that’s the case,” Natalie said, “I mean, if they don’t know, not for sure, is letting Rachel shoot at them a good idea.”

             
Quey sighed, “Indeed it isn’t.”

             
They caught Rachel and Reggie on the roof before any bullets flew, climbing up from the third floor hatch.  Quey was almost blinded by a flash of glare coming off one of the many solar panels lining the roof and he stumbled and rubbed his eyes.  He found Reggie and Rachel near the edge of the roof overlooking the front of the building.  Unfortunately reason was lost on Rachel and the more Quey tried to explain the angrier she became until finally he nodded to Reggie and the big man wrenched the rifle from her hands.  She kicked him in the shin and he barked in pain and limped away from her uttering, “Damn woman,” as he went.

             
“I fucking hate you,” she told Quey as she stormed off the rooftop.

             
The words lingered for a spell while Quey watched the set of cars roll across the waste kicking up a cloud of dust as they made their way toward the compound.  Along the coast of the river was the Once Men village, also watching.  Quey smiled slightly at that, a fate worse than death, and a large part of him hoped the Once Men would give chase.

             
“You alright?” he asked the big man as he finished walking off the blow to his shin.

             
“Yeah, just stings like a bitch.”

             
Quey nodded.

             
“This outta be interesting,” the big man said, looking out at the savages on the riverbank and the approaching Angels of the Brood.

             
“Reckon so,” Quey replied as the Once Men postured up and began shouting and working themselves into a frenzy.  The brood, it seemed, noticed them as well and stopped.  They hesitated when they should have simply ran, perhaps because they’d never encountered the sorts of Once Men you find in the waste and weren’t aware of their ferocity or perhaps because they hadn’t expected to find them at all and let shock got the better of them.  Whatever the reason, it gave the Once Men all the time they needed to pick up the guns they had and jump into the dented faded heaps of metal they’d acquired over the years.  When the Brood finally did run, the Once Men drove after them, hollering wildly and firing recklessly at the fleeing brood.

             
“Think they’ll be back?” Reggie asked.

             
“Hard to say,” Quey answered.  “Depends on what they know… or what they think they know.  Either way it’s getting a little more crowded around here than I’d like.”

             
Quey left the roof and Reggie followed.