by C. G. Hatton
I stood there, sideways on to them, trying to figure out if I could raise it and shoot them both before she could shoot me. The blast door was still closed behind me. There was no other way out.
Arianne walked forward. “Don’t be stupid, Anderton. Now are you going to tell me where the Emperor really is?”
I couldn’t see any way out. I stared at her, seeing in her the woman in Mendhel’s file, the picture of them both together with their little girl. It was definitely her. All I could think about was Mendhel’s face as he was told she’d been killed.
Her expression changed, as if she’d suddenly become immensely curious about this stupid kid in front of her.
“Who are you working for?” she said, a frown creasing those familiar features.
“I’m not working for anyone,” I said but I might as well have blurted out my whole life story.
“Who taught you to manipulate an AI like that? Where did you learn…?” She paused, then she said it, so abruptly I couldn’t not react. “The Maze. You’re from Kheris? Holy shit, you’re Charlie Anderton’s kid.”
I blinked, shutting down every emotional response that surfaced but it was too late.
“You’re Thieves’ Guild,” she breathed and her arm snapped up, pointing a gun right between my eyes.
Chapter 29
“Drop the gun,” she said again.
I let it fall from fingers that were numb anyway.
Kat was watching from further down the corridor, tying her fingers in knots, excited, like she wanted to watch Arianne pull the trigger. I’ve never been so badly wrong about someone. Kat was my first big mistake. Like I’d finally made it into the big bad world and that’s what had been waiting to pounce the whole time.
I looked at Arianne. “Why did you kill Markus?”
If she’d needed proof, that was it but she was going to kill me anyway so what did it matter?
She narrowed her eyes. “Was it Mendhel Halligan that sent you?”
There was an edge to her voice that sent ice into my veins. Just hearing her say his name.
I stood my ground, asking obnoxiously, “Why are you doing this?” I wanted to know for Mendhel, even though I’d never be able to tell him. I wanted her to tell Kat to scram and turn to me to explain that she was undercover, that Markus wasn’t dead, that it was all part of a game they were playing to infiltrate Spearhead.
She didn’t. I think she was talking to someone else, or listening, because she nodded vaguely, the same way I’d seen Mendhel react outside the briefing room.
She blinked slowly, looked me in the eye and said, “Time’s up, kid.”
It wasn’t the first time someone had pointed a gun at me and pulled the trigger and it wouldn’t be the last.
Kat screamed like a harpy and for a flash, I thought she was protecting me, but she flew at a figure in the shadows. There was sharp double pop. My heart jumped, the shot fired at me whistling past my ear as I flinched away, and Arianne twisting and falling as she caught the edge of the charge fired at her, dropping the gun but rolling to her feet.
Then, rather than time slowing, it seemed to accelerate, so fast I could hardly see what was happening. Hilyer dragged Kat around and threw her at me, running fast to kick the gun away from Arianne and stand between us. Kat rolled and came to her feet, fighting stance, facing me. Despite everything, I didn’t want to hit her but she didn’t give me any choice, coming at me hard and laughing while she did it. I ducked and tried to catch her in a hold, seeing Hilyer and Arianne trading blows and kicks out of the corner of my eye, Hil struggling to hold his own for once.
Kat jabbed me in the ribs, twisted and grabbed my arm, right where it had been shot, squeezing tight, pain going skyhigh as she increased the pressure. I almost folded. She pulled me close. “We could’ve been something, Luka,” she breathed. “You and me. So you’re Thieves’ Guild? I didn’t think that outfit even really existed. Shame my boss needs you dead.” She thrust her elbow into my face with a sharp crack, shoved me away as my knees went to jelly and dived for the gun.
I hit the floor and sprawled.
Arianne spun and kicked Hilyer in the head.
He staggered.
Kat picked up the gun and aimed it at me with a grin.
Hil was looking at me, swaying, blood pouring from his nose, nothing he could do as Arianne was standing in his way.
A deafening shot resounded in the narrow space.
I blinked, flinching, almost feeling the bullet punch into my chest, but it was Kat who wavered, red spraying out from her shirt. She gasped and fell, the gun clattering to the floor.
I couldn’t move, frozen to the spot like an idiot, Arianne turning to look, Hilyer going for his gun, sliding and shooting in one smooth motion. That time it was a pop and the older woman jerked as the FTH round took her in the head and she fell, out cold before she hit the ground.
The Emperor was standing in the shadows, still holding the gun, expression blank.
Kat wasn’t moving and I could tell from the way she was staring, a strand of blue hair falling across her face, that she was dead.
Hil gave me a hand to get up. “We need to go,” he said. “If we don’t get out now, we won’t. They’re locking the whole place down.”
I couldn’t drag my eyes away from Kat and the blood spreading across her shirt, pooling out beneath her.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” the kid murmured.
Hil took his arm, turning him away, taking the gun out of his hand.
“I’ve given orders that have sent thousands to their deaths,” the kid said, sounding more like a lost child talking about a game he’d played than the Emperor.
I was still staring at her, a hollow chill deep inside that felt like it would never lift.
The Emperor looked back at me and said again, “I’ve never killed anyone.”
“First time for everything,” Hil said harshly. “Now, c’mon. Or it’ll be the last.”
He took us up two flights of stairs, bust through a locked door, sealed it behind us and led us into a narrow walkway that led to some kind of equipment store. He stopped by an open area that was packed with workbenches, automated machinery mixed with a pile of gizmos and what looked like surveillance equipment. There was a bunch of medical supplies on the table where he stopped. He told the Emperor to sit and wait then looked at me weird, pulled out a chair and said, “Sit down.”
“Why?”
He started rooting through the kit on the bench, separating out field dressings and sprays, turning to me with a knife in his hand.
“They must be tracking us.” He pointed the knife at me. “We need to get that implant out of your neck or we don’t have a chance. You don’t wanna come with us, fine. You do, you let me get that implant out. But you decide now. We don’t have time to screw around.”
He had a makeshift dressing on his neck, below his right ear.
I sat.
He injected me with something, took hold of my ear with one hand, and told me to count to three. I got to two and the bastard stabbed me in the neck.
The excruciating pain as he sliced into my skin was bad enough. It escalated beyond unbearable and as he pulled on the implant, it spiked, like he was pulling my brain out with burning hot tweezers. I held on for half a second, breath caught in my chest, a scream caught in my throat, then I lost it, tried to pull away and I think he hit me. I don’t remember but when I came round, we’d moved, there was no sign of the kid and Hilyer was sitting on the floor next to me, legs stretched out, chest heaving, reloading his gun, and watching a data board resting between us that had a live feed from multiple cameras showing armoured troops sweeping through dark corridors.
Someone had obviously decided that waiting us out was not an option.
“Yeah,” he said without looking at me, “we’re screwed.”
I reached a hand to my neck and felt a dressing. It hurt beyond sore. My eyes were burning.
“I think you pulled out half
my brain,” I muttered.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t miss it.” He nudged the board round so I could see it better. “And no, I didn’t. I just cut out the Senson comms implant. The neural link is still there. Christ, I wouldn’t mess with that.”
“So I can still use it?” I tried to see if I could feel it inside my head but even trying to think about it made me feel sick.
“I wouldn’t. It’s the Senson that provides all the protections.”
That didn’t make me feel good.
“Where’s the Emperor?” I asked again, sitting up and having to steady myself against a swirl of dizzying nausea.
“We ran into some trouble. I’ve got him stashed somewhere safe. He’s waiting for us. I couldn’t take you there with that thing in your neck. I didn’t know you were going to pass out.” He didn’t sound impressed but he threw a half smile at me. “You still gonna be able to fly that drop ship?”
I might have laughed but I said, “Yes.”
He did laugh. He slammed the magazine home, grabbed the board and got to his feet, reaching down to give me a hand to get up.
I swayed.
“For crying out loud, don’t flake out again. You’re bloody heavy.”
We made it up two more floors, slinking through the corridors and having to climb up into the dusty crawlspaces to get away whenever they got close. It was an old building, majestic, high ceilings between floors, rusting from the inside out, but otherwise well maintained.
The Emperor was waiting for us in another maintenance area, one floor down from the roof. The kid had set up a nest of monitors and boards, sitting under a table in the corner, only the faint light giving away the fact he was there. He didn’t look like the Commander in Chief of the entire Earth Empire. He looked like the kind of kid Peanut would have brought home to join the gang.
He looked up and out from his den as we approached. The whole front of his shirt was drenched with blood but he didn’t look in discomfort.
It made me feel queasy but I must have looked concerned because he smiled and patted his chest. “Trauma patch,” he said softly. “One of our best inventions.”
He was way older than eight.
“We still need to get you out of here,” Hil said, crouching down. “How’s it looking?”
“Not good. Someone seems to have convinced everyone that I’m dead already so they’re storming the Citadel.” The kid scrolled through a few screens. “I’m trying to find the Commandant and his staff but I’m having trouble isolating my people from yours.” He looked up. “Sorry. No offence.”
“None taken. LC? Can you do your stuff?”
I didn’t exactly know what ‘my stuff’ was, but I climbed in beside the kid and took up a couple of the boards.
“They might not be tracking us,” I muttered, starting to work through the screens, “but they’ll be monitoring lifesigns.”
I found a way in to the AI and sent it a curveball, scrambling all the telemetry it was receiving. It was messy and it would right itself fast enough but it would give us a bit of time. After that, I started working through the comms, tracking command lines, seeing if I could isolate the Ancients staff and personnel from the visitors or any newcomers, double checking security clearances and IDs, and narrowing down the search criteria until I had clear, defined tags on each unit.
And then I saw him.
I froze, stomach cold.
Hil was rooting through stuff on the workbench. He glanced over. “What’s wrong? C’mon, we don’t have long. Have you found the Commandant?”
“No,” I said at the same time as the kid Emperor said, “Yes.”
The cold knot clenched like my soul was being sucked out into space.
The kid looked at me puzzled. “He’s our new Commandant.”
Hil cursed. “Shit, don’t tell me…” He leaned over to take a look and cursed.
I nodded. “That’s him. The IDC guy. Your General McIntyre. We don’t have a way out. There is no way out.”
I felt like the galaxy had spun on its axis.
The Emperor took the board off me and peered at it. “I don’t understand. He’s our new Commandant. We’re welcoming him at the celebration parade.”
I wanted to sink into the ground. I wasn’t wrong and I wasn’t going to doubt myself. It was his access key that had triggered the whole mess on Kheris. His dirty dealings with Dayton. Whatever was going on, I’d known all along that it was bigger than one dirtball mining colony. How big, I’d had no idea.
I couldn’t see how we were going to get out. Running to the Emperor’s people was an absolute no go. We had no idea who was Spearhead and who was loyal.
“I can vouch for you,” he said, and then he did sound like a naïve eight year old kid.
Hil cursed again. “Won’t work. Your Commandant is a traitor, kid. He’s working for Spearhead. That’s why you can’t separate out your people from theirs. They’ll make it look like we killed you. Or you’ll get caught in the crossfire. We need to get past everyone, make a break for it, get away on our own.”
“And go where?” I looked across at him. I didn’t need to say it.
He glared at me. “No.” He was adamant. “You can. You take him. I’m not going back. Did you get a drop ship to land on the roof?”
“Yes,” I said, “but I don’t know how we’ll get to it.”
Hil stood up. “We’ll have to find a way. Because I’ll be damned if we’re going to die here.”
We split, squeezing into the crawlspaces and starting to work our way upwards.
“Go back where?” the kid asked me after a while, looking back over his shoulder. “What did your friend mean when he said he’s not going back.”
He had a right to ask, and after all it was him they were trying to kill. And he was the Emperor. In theory he could order us to tell him whatever he wanted, but I said, “It doesn’t matter,” as I edged past him, tapped at Hil’s ankle and whispered, “Wait up.”
Hil squirmed round to look back. “What?”
“Doesn’t feel right. We need to double back.”
“Doesn’t feel right? What the hell doesn’t feel right?”
“It doesn’t feel right.” I couldn’t explain. I could never explain to anyone how I did what I did when I was out in the field. The guild psychs used to tie themselves in knots trying to figure me out. There were times when I just knew stuff. Instinct, intuition, empathy, luck, I have no idea. I didn’t care. But I never questioned it.
Hil made an exasperated face but he didn’t argue. “Which way?”
“Down and round.”
We had to scurry like rats to avoid the patrols sweeping through the Citadel. We almost got caught but I grabbed the Emperor by the scruff of the neck and hauled him aside as flashlight beams scanned around us and soldiers passed by close enough we could hear them breathing.
Hil pulled me close and hissed into my ear, “We’re not gonna make it.”
I hated to admit it but he was right. “We need to find an access terminal,” I whispered. “I’ve got an idea.”
We climbed into a maintenance vent and crawled through to a bay that had a stack of boards. I grabbed one and pulled it back into the crawlspace. I didn’t have time to do anything spectacular but I got through to the security system, accessed the patrol bots and reversed the dampeners on them, only I didn’t just send them back to work, I initiated an exercise protocol that sent them out transmitting lifesigns, hunting each other and causing a flare of activity on any sensors they were using, powerful enough to fry the circuits of a suit of powered armour.
It caused chaos.
We made a run for the roof, made it up into a maintenance area and we would have made it out except someone else was smart enough to figure out what we were doing.
Jem.
She stepped out of the shadows, rifle up, and she fired off three fast bursts before we could react.
Chapter 30
The bullets raked into the knotwork of pipes above our
heads, ricocheting with an echoing clang, steam hissing. She stepped forward, still aiming the rifle at us.
Hil put himself in front of the kid, one hand in the air, the other behind his back holding the gun. I didn’t have a weapon, not even anything to hand that I could have thrown at her.
“Jem…” Hil said.
“Stand aside, Hilyer.” She glanced at me, cold.
I stepped slightly away from them, opening up the angle, and forward, towards her. Her eyes darted from me to Hil.
“Jem,” I said, wanting her attention, “it’s us. C’mon, you’re not going to hurt us. You know us. We’ve been used. We’ve all been used. You don’t need to do this.”
I took another step forward.
“Get back, Anderton. We have orders.”
Another step.
She switched her aim to me.
I felt more than saw Hilyer move to bring up his gun, saw the flicker in her eyes and had to dive to the side as she opened up. Hil returned fire and the small space filled with deafening noise.
Something hot grazed my shoulder as I fell. I covered my head, curled up and rolled, looking up to see Hil kneeling by Jem, feeling the pulse on her neck, and the Emperor standing over us both, holding the rifle and staring behind us. It was bad enough to be a fourteen year old runaway and having people want to kill you. I couldn’t imagine being eight, being the Emperor and suddenly having a target on your back.
“They’re coming,” he said, quiet and calm.
Clangs and bangs were echoing up to us, shouts and footsteps getting closer.
I said, “Hil…?” feeling awkward as hell, knowing exactly what he was thinking. He didn’t want to leave her. I’d never seen him look so torn. “Bring her with us.”
He looked up at me and glanced back over.
I nodded.
We both reached for her.
There was a metallic clatter.
And a shower of tiny silver spheres rained down around us.
It was one of those moments that turned to slow motion.