Unstable Prototypes (33 page)

"You're telling the truth …"

"Yeah, I know. What a shocker, huh?"

She snatched her pen back up and scratched a
few more lines.

"This scientist, is he in any danger?"

"I generally consider him to be the source of
danger in any situation he's involved in."

"I'm being serious, Trevor."

"So am I."

"Are the authorities involved?"

"Probably. Though Ma says she's tried to keep
them out so they won't try to lock up the scientist."

"Ma?"

"That's what he calls his AI system."

She flipped back through her notes, reading
through them as though they'd been written by someone else.

"My God, Trevor, you helped a criminal
escape," she whispered.

"Oh... that... It happened kind of fast. I'm
not 100% sure I broke any laws... I ... might have been a
hostage."

"Might have been!?"

"He was very charismatic."

"How did you help him get away?"

"By being Trevor Alexander," he said flatly,
"Me plus the SOB equals a clean getaway."

"You still haven't explained the
bandages."

"Yes I did, that was from deGrasse. The con
needed to get dropped off there. It is a tough neighborhood. Drugs
and such. They tried to rob me. A fight ensued. I won."

"What happened after that?"

"I dropped him off on Maxis, then I came
here."

"And where did this criminal go after?"

"I don't really know, and frankly, I'm
happier that way."

"How could I not have heard about this?" she
asked, more to herself than Lex. She dug out her slidepad and
brought up a few sites. "Yep, it is all right here. 'Escaped
convict. No video footage. Highly skilled escape.' That's it. No
more conventions. Too distracting. Is there any way that this is
going to find its way back to you?"

"No, absolutely not. Ma was very careful
about that. She picked a place with no surveillance and no
monitoring. I don't even think they have a record of the SOB
docking."

"You sure place an awful lot of faith in this
computer program."

"You seemed to like her. You let her lick
your ear," he remarked, leaning closer to add quietly "Usually you
only let me do that."

"Trevor, this is serious,"she hissed,
slamming the pen down.

"I know. I know that this was an unholy mess
that I had no business being a part of. That's why I bowed out. It
is in more capable hands now."

"Why would you even involve yourself in the
first place?"

"You haven't seen what this guy can do,
Michella. He could be bad news in the wrong hands. I had to do
something."

Michella was silent for a few seconds,
glancing anxiously over her notes as she rested her elbows on the
table and clutched at her fingers. It was clear that she was lost,
her brain struggling to cope with the madness it was now being
asked to process. She floundered for a firm mental footing for a
moment and, finding none, reverted to her mental default. When in
doubt, do what you do best. She picked up her pen once more,
composed herself, and looked to Lex.

"Do you know anything about the
kidnappers?"

"Not a whole lot. I only got a look at some
low quality footage-"

"There is video? Can you get your hands on
it?" she urged with blood-in-the-water focus.

"What? No. Ma had that stuff. And she's
pretty busted up. I'm not sure she'd be able to send it now...
though she did load the videos onto her slidepad before-"

"Can you have her send them to you? I'll need
to speak to her as well, if possible. And I'll-"

"Michella, I'm out of this mess, remember?
Because of how dangerous it was? Weren't you
just
worried
about this finding its way back to me?"

"That was Michella the girlfriend worried
about Trevor the boyfriend. Now that she has said her piece, it is
Michella the reporter's turn to talk to Trevor the primary source,
and she smells a story that might just beat what she's been working
on lately. Now, if you know where-"

Lex reached across the table, took her hands
in his, and looked her in the eyes.

"Listen. I can appreciate your professional
curiosity, but this is too hot to touch. I mean,
I
wasn't
willing to stick with it, and you and I both know that my tastes
run a bit closer to the suicidal end of the spectrum than is really
healthy. So let's just relax, enjoy these last few all expense paid
days on this paradise of a planet, and let that scientist and the
chaos and destruction that inevitably surrounds him stay far, far
away, where they belong."

Michella opened her mouth to speak, but
before she could make a sound, a vicious violet flash flooded the
whole of the eatery with blinding light. Gasps and cries rang out
as the others in the juice bar and gym rushed to the nearest
window, where a faint halo of residual light could still be seen
lingering high in the sky.

"What the hell was that?!" Lex said, jumping
to his feet.

"It think it was an explosion in the high
atmosphere!" Michella guessed. Her slidepad was already in her
hands, feverishly bringing up her quick-dial list.

"You'd expect an explosion that big to make
some sort of loud s-"

The laws of physics, with their flawless
comedic timing, managed to cut Lex off with a thundering blast of
sound as the shock wave lagged behind the light of the explosion.
It was a resounding thump that rattled the walls, followed by a
rolling, modulating series of echos, like the planet had been
punched in the gut and was struggling to get its breath. Lex turned
to Michella, but she had the slidepad held up, snapping a picture.
A moment later, a call finished connecting.

"Jon! We're in the ground floor fitness
center at the Pavilion, are you nearby?" she said.

"Uh, sort of. I'm down by the garage," came
the voice of her clearly shaken assistant over the connection.

"Good. Bring the rental car around."

"What just happened, Miss Modane?"

"We are going to find out. Get here quick,"
she said, closing the connection and heading for the door. "Come
on, Trev."

"Whoa, hey, hold on a second," Lex said,
trying to get his brain back up to speed, "What are you planning to
do?"

"That explosion, do you have any idea what
might cause that?"

"No, I don't. I'm not an expert in
explosions. Where are we going?"

"I'll have to do an image search on that
picture. The news database might have a near match," she muttered
under her breath, working at her device for a few moments before
addressing Lex. "We're going to go find out what happened. How far
away would you suppose that was?"

"Uh, I don't know. It looks like it was over
the college quarter, but it is pretty hard to tell. It was awfully
far up. Slow down, what do you mean we are going to find out? You
aren't thinking of driving
toward
that explosion, are
you?"

"Me? No. I'm thinking I'll pull up as much
research about it as I can in the next few minutes, then get in
front of the camera and talk about it while
you
drive toward
it."

"That's a bad idea. You don't drive toward
explosions. You drive away from explosions and wait for someone to
tell you about them."

"Trevor, the press don't have the luxury of
waiting until someone tells them what is happening. We are the ones
who need to do the telling," she said, shouldering her way with
purpose through the increasingly chaotic crowd filling the lobby.
Somehow, Jon was just pulling the rented hovercar up to the main
doors.

"There is a whole convention of press people
here! It doesn't need to be
you
that does the telling!"

"No, but it is going to be."

"But you aren't breaking news, you're
investigative-"

"It always pays to have the big scoop. I was
on financial reporting when I broke my first one, remember?" she
said, pushing the door open. "Jon, do we have that law enforcement
scanner with us?"

"Yes, Miss-"

"Good, get it out and turn it on. And have we
got the video rig in the trunk?"

"Yes, Miss-"

"Do you know how to handle it?"

"I'm a journalism intern. I've spent time
behind a camera."

"Good. Pull it out, set it up, and get in the
back seat. Trev, get behind the wheel," Michella said, beginning to
dig through her purse again.

"Whoa, whoa. What exactly are you expecting
me to do?"

Michella held up her hand and shushed. Jon
had managed to power up the scanner, and the first coherent message
was coming through.

"... indicate that the weapon discharged near
the equatorial low orbit monitoring station was a medium-yield
antimatter weapon. A pair of ships have been sighted de-cloaking
and entering the atmosphere. Trajectory indicates the destination
is Weston University... "

"I need you to get this rental to Weston
University, and I need you to get it there before any other news
crews," she said, continuing her search though her purse.

Lex looked at the rental, an NVS Duchess. It
wasn't a speedster, but it was a sturdy piece of machinery, the
kind of workhorse that tended to be selected as police cruisers and
taxi cabs. These days the sheer speed of hovercars and the general
importance of aerodynamics meant that you couldn't really make them
boxy, but the designers had done their very best to do so,
regardless. He looked to the skyways. What should have been a
hopeless snarl of panicked drivers was still flowing smoothly
thanks to the mandatory automated driving. Notably, all traffic was
headed away from the explosion, likely as a result of an emergency
traffic reroute. A news van, bedecked with transmitters, sensors,
and cameras, blasted out of a nearby garage and out over the city,
skipping the skyway entirely in favor of a straight shot to the
action. He felt his competitive side growl. Finally he looked back
to Michella. She had found what she was looking for; a stick of
chewing gum, which she was holding out for him. He could actually
hear his willpower snap.

"I am an adrenaline junky, and you are an
enabler," he said, snatching the gum and pulling her in for a kiss.
After dragging it out for as long as he dared, he stuffed the gum
in his shirt pocket and made his way to the front of the car. "Pop
the hood."

"We don't have time for you to ogle the
machinery, Trev."

"Listen, you know press stuff, I know driving
stuff. Just pop the hood."

"I'm on it," Jon said, sliding into the
driver's seat and tapping the appropriate button.

The hood of the car lifted up, revealing the
power system and electronics of the Duchess. Lex swept his eyes
over the guts of the hovercar, spotted what he was looking for, and
reached down. He grabbed hold of a control node the size of his
fist and yanked it free, taking the time to cram a few wires back
into the socket that the node left vacant. He then slammed the
hood, took the driver's seat, and tossed the node into the back
seat, where Michella was doing a bit of frantic primping while Jon
took a seat beside her and started assembling the modular
camera.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Strictly enforced automated navigation,
remember? That means all rentals have an override. If you want to
stay in control, you've got to yank it. Found
that
out the
hard way. I yanked the transponder wire, too. Better that way," he
explained, adjusting the seat and manipulating a few settings in
the vehicle's computer. Finally he retrieved the gum, unwrapped it,
and shoved it in his mouth. "Okay, baby, here we go. Hope you got
the insurance on this sucker."

Lex guided the hovercar into the air and
toward the nearest skyway on-ramp.

"Are you sure that the skyway is the best-"
Jon began to ask.

"Yes, Jon," Lex said flatly.

"But don't you want to go straight there,
like-"

"No, Jon."

"But-"

"Trev knows what he's doing. Just keep the
camera running and point it where I tell you. Trev, try to keep it
steady," Michella instructed.

"No promises," he said, maxing out the
acceleration.

Satisfied that she was presentable, Michella
selected a name from her contact list and tapped it, putting the
pad to her ear and stowing her glasses while she waited for it to
connect. A particularly sudden bit of maneuvering convinced her to
wrap her free hand around a grip above the door.

"Yeah, Lou? Michella. You're going to be
getting a feed from that spare camera rig you sent along with us. I
need you to patch it through to the live feed. … You'll find out in
a minute. … Thanks Lou," she said, closing the connection and
nodding at Jon while she applied a lapel mic. When she got the
thumbs up, she turned on her well practiced tone of competent
concern. "This is Michella Modane for GolanaNet News reporting live
from Tessera, where an unexplained explosion..."

Much as Lex would have liked to pay attention
to Michella's report, navigation was quickly becoming an issue.
Common sense would dictate that, if you were in a vehicle capable
of flight, the best way to get someplace you weren't supposed to go
would be to fly straight there, as their current rival news crew
had opted to do. Lex, who was a bit more skilled in vehicular
misbehavior than he should have been, had quickly learned that this
was absolutely not the case. Anything above a certain altitude that
wasn't in a designated route was instantly flagged for
interception, so staying within the proper roads was essential.
This was doubly important when an apparent invasion was happening,
as the cloaked vehicles would certainly indicate. The last thing
you would want would be to have the police or military think you
were one of the intruding parties. Thus, Lex was scooting the
rented Duchess as quickly as possible through the skyway leading
roughly toward Weston University. Brief glimpses between traffic
quickly illustrated that they had made the right decision, as a
trio of marked police cars corralled and grounded the news van.